If Only Tonight We Could Sleep
by x thiefmachine
Summary: As SPR's popularity grows, the small company takes on more cases than ever, with one small problem. "...Taniyama Mai. Tea enthusiast, psychic researcher, insomniac." Subtle NxM on its way. Chapter 13 up !
1. The Storm

As SPR's popularity grows, the small company takes on more cases than ever, with one small problem. "...Taniyama Mai. Tea enthusiast, psychic researcher, insomniac." Case after case, Mai deals with vengeful spirits and uncontrollable poltergeists. Compassionate, strong-willed, insightful, and talented - nothing can conquer Mai. Right?

Wrong.

* * *

A cool summer breeze filtered through the open windows of the office and I took a deep breath. Negative ions, ahhh~ so refreshing. After days of searing heat, a cold front was all too perfect. The storm boomed while within the confines of SPR, a medly of page-turning and keyboard clacking came from the two offices attatched to the "lounge."

I sighed. Even as the world outside ripped branches from trees and drowned grass, Naru and Lin-san stayed cooped up in their own little world.

One glance out the window showed several poor souls trapped in the downpour, umbrellas out, trying to keep their backpacks, their briefcases, and their shopping bags dry. It reminded me of the last major storm system to hit the office - those days I spent in the office organizing paperwork while Lin-san came and went; while Naru lay in bed at the hospital.

I recalled how the rain would clink hopelessly against the windows: the clink of archaic prison chains. Such a lifeless time, pitiful hours, no cases, and a mostly empty office...

_When I'd first got the message from Lin-san that Naru had been released from the hospital, relief couldn't begin to describe my emotions. Through the whole ordeal, I suppose I never realized how scared I was. I'd been so worried Naru would shut everything down after his prolonged hospital stay, but no. All was well. After a few weeks' hiatus, Shibuya Psychic Research was back and ready to take on any and all paranormal phenomena Japan had to offer._

_And did they. Though Naru continued to resist any high-profile cases, SPR became well known and popular in the psychic world. We started receiving more legitimate cases and my workload went through the roof._

_Even during the most stressful times, I'd exercised regularly, ate three square meals a day, and enjoyed lots of "me" time. I'd been healthier than the average teenager, I assumed, yet... Something had been upsetting my sleep. _

_It started out innocently enough: a nightmare. I'd come to terms with suffering through the occasional psychic nightmare, having them frequently on the job, but this was an ordinary nightmare and not a psychic dream. It must have been horrifying, I think, since a scream woke me up. My own shriek, though it seemed to seep through the walls of my bedroom instead of being forced from my own lungs._

_The most unsettling part of the experience was the fact that after countless perfect recollections of dreams past, my memory of that nightmare was a complete blank. An exposed negative. Waking turned the dream to dust. _

_As I sat in bed and watched the glaring red lines of my alarm clock twist themselves into new and significant numbers, something about that color red was hypnotic... It reminded me of Naru's poltergeist test, and that calmed me somewhat. That morning, I called in sick._

_In the following weeks, my sleeping patterns began to change profoundly. I could no longer doze off on cases, or even at the office, and slept through the night dream-free. As my funk progressed, crashing at night became a difficulty as well. August turned to September, and my sleep deficit grew. Four hours of sleep a night became a luxury, yet I still tackled all my usual work to the best of my abilities and investigated every case SPR accepted..._

"Mai," A cold voice broke my musings, "You're free to zone out on your own time." Startled, I looked up to find Naru lounging in his doorway. How long was he standing there? I didn't even hear the door open. Damn, was he sneaky.

"Naru. Don't startle me like that. Are you looking for tea or are you looking to irritate your clearly busy assistant?" I motioned to the files strewn about my corner desk. I'd been copying them into the computer all morning: they were all accounts of my dreams and their relevance to cases, all the accounts that were handwritten before Lin-san had made the suggestion that I be allowed a laptop for business.

It seemed sick torture to work on such a thing after yet another sleepless night, but Naru was not exactly Mr. Sensitivity. I cut everyone some slack, though, it's not like I'd have told them I couldn't sleep. Not even Bou-san, Ayako, or my friends from school. It seemed like one of those things that would be ignored by Naru and Lin-san, yet fussed over by Bou-san and Ayako. The last thing I wanted was to worry my friends, so I kept them ignorant.

"Busy?" Naru's head tilted slightly to the side as he walked over to my desk and grabbed my laptop.

"Naru, I'm working on th-"

"There's nothing typed. Which file are you on?" Busted.

"Well, um, I just finished typing up my notes from the Kusonoki poltergeist, the Funaki poltergeist, and the suicide victim that haunted the Uemura mansion." I remembered clearly how painful it'd been to try and decipher my notes from the Kusonoki case in particular, as my notepad fell in a pond while I tried to console the eight-year-old boy we uncovered as the culprit.

"Yes, Mai, I know you did those ones," Naru gave me a mildly annoyed glare. "you e-mailed them to Lin three hours ago to be put in SPR's database."

"Three hours? I've only been slacking off for ten minutes tops." I checked the time in the bottom corner of my brand new laptop. 6:37 PM. It really _had_ been three hours! I'd completely lost track of time. "Oh- Um- Naru- ...Sorry...?"

Naru said nothing, and just stared into my genuinely confused face. After a moment, he turned to retreat back into his batcave -ahem, office. As he reached the door, inspiration hit and he turned back to face me with his hand on the doorknob.

"Take the rest of the evening off. When you come back tomorrow, you can act your age and pretend to know the concept of an attention span. This isn't school; wasting your time wastes mine too."

Ouch.

* * *

Greetings, this is the first chunk of my first ever work of fan fiction. Love it, hate it, let me know! Also, if you spot errors or inconsistencies, you'll have one very grateful little author.


	2. A Fresh Case

As I walked into the office ten minutes early, I anticipated the look on I'd find on Naru's face when he saw today's wardrobe choice. It was time for me to learn to act more mature, more professional. At least in Naru's eyes, and in his eyes the most mature, professional, perfect person in the world was himself. It seemed all too easy to make fun of that after being scolded.

I must admit I was a vision in black.

It'd been taxing trying to find dark clothes to wear to the office. I'd never been in the habit of wearing much black so I'd had to piece together an outfit from slim pickings. A black button-up shirt, I at least had that. I rolled the sleeves to three-quarters length and created an outfit with my one and only black skirt. Of course, it was a mini like most of my skirts, but I hoped that wouldn't distract from the point I was trying to make.

To top it all off, black nylons and black flats. I looked like a brunette, female Naru. I'd even opted for black mascara instead of my usual brown to add to the contrast.

My plan was straight forward: dress and act like my boss until the conclusion of whatever case he took next. It shouldn't be too hard, I'd put up with more Naru in my lifetime than most. I couldn't master the half-assed pout Naru usually pulled after someone said something whimsical, but that was borderline inhuman anyways.

Yesterday's storm was well over, and a crisp, beautiful late summer day greeted me as I left my apartment. On my way to work, I considered how exactly I was going to act. Humor was definitely out, no matter how much Ayako complained. Even if Bou-san laughs his ass clear off, I will keep my composure.

I sat down gracefully at my desk and stashed the few framed pictures I'd brought from home in my drawers. Naru'd never said anything about them being unprofessional before, but if I was going to do this I had to be thorough. I draped my bag lazily over my chair and headed to the kitchenette. I loved making tea. Green, earl grey, you name it. Three cups: one for myself, one for Lin-san (who I assumed would refuse, yet usually I'd set the tea down, leave, and he'd drink it) and one for Naru.

I received a slight eyebrow-raise from Lin-san as I set the teacup next to his keyboard. I didn't attempt to make small talk while on my Saturday morning tea rounds. Naru said nothing, either, though I did hear a very exasperated sigh as I left.

My morning was fairly uneventful: I typed up dream notes from five more cases and sent them to Lin-san before lunch. No prospective clients came in for me to be cold to, and I was glad. I wouldn't have been mean to them -that's not in my nature- but I'd have to be quiet with clients. Having to be a zombie to kind people was the part of the experiment I dreaded most. Lin-san and Naru did little but turn pages and abuse keyboards.

Some time after four o'clock, a desperate man and his young daughter entered the office. I brought tea and called SPR's brilliant minds to listen to them. As the father told Naru about the rapping noises, etc., his household experienced, I went back to my desk and continued working on my files.

The little girl was probably around five years old and said nothing. She must've been terrified... I tried to shut out the man's story: I'd have been scared along with him, and I'd most likely have consoled him and his little girl.

This case seemed like one Naru would accept.

"...Yesterday, I came home from work and couldn't find Hitomi. I called for her for half an hour- finally, I heard this tapping noise upstairs. Hitomi was... My daughter was _inside_ her bedroom wall. I couldn't hear her crying, but I found her once she started hitting the wall... The noise was so soft... Wha-what if I hadn't..." The father, Takata Kenji, faltered and said no more. Hitomi-chan sank further into the sofa.

Naru gave Lin-san a look. Spirits that could manipulate human bodies... We'd seen it before. Lin-san jotted quick notes as Naru continued questioning Takata-san, then came the usual:

"We'll call you when we make our decision." Naru gave one last look to the morose pair as they parted.

"N-Naru?" I hadn't said anything to him the whole day, but I needed to tell him to take that case. That sad man... His speechless daughter... They needed our help.

Naru didn't acknowledge me at first, but pondered something a moment before turning to me. "How many cases have you transcribed today?"

"Seven." I kept my word count to a minimum. It was tricky, but I hadn't been reprimanded for _anything _during the whole charade.

"That makes ten out of twenty six cases. Do five more, then call Matsuzaki-san and Bou-san. We'll be taking this case. I'll call Takata-san myself, we'll leave tomorrow." With that, my boss and his taciturn assistant went into Naru's office to discuss Takata-san's case.

I waited until i heard the soft click of the door closing behind then, after a long afternoon of being a cold, heartless young woman, allowed myself a warm smile.

* * *

I checked the hanging rack again just to make sure they didn't have that cute shirt in my size. Medium, Large, XL. None of which could fit me under anything but tragic circumstances. I sighed again and headed to the saleswoman who'd been eyeing me since my first footfall in her store. Two more skirts added themselves to my wardrobe, a moderate sum of SPR's pay left my bank account, and I finally headed home.

After that morning's scramble to find something "suitable" to wear to work during Naru-week, I'd realized I was seriously lacking when it came to dark clothes. I never liked wearing them, but after a whole day wearing the stuff, I'd found certain perks. For one, darker shades did _not_ make me look twelve years old like certain ensembles in my closet.

My key turned with ease, and once again I was home. The apartment light flickered on and I slouched my way over to the kettle. Naru'd been a bad influence. My tea intake at work skyrocketed after his return from the hospital, and I developed a habit of downing (_several cups of_) non-caffeinated tea every night after work. Making tea was my favorite part of office work, though. I'd ready the kettle, select what SPR would drink that day, let it steep, and serve it. Easy and enjoyable.

On the best days, I'd serve to people who sat in the office lounge with me. Bou-san and Yasuhara made the best tea-drinking company, followed by John and Ayako. Masako was better handled in small doses or diluted by Ayako or Bou-san. Then again, she'd never been in the habit of stopping to chat and drink tea with the likes of me.

My tea steeped as I changed into shorts and a tank top. A manga novel I'd finished reading weeks ago rested on a table by my window, and I snatched it up. I needed something mindless after a day of being Naru.

"How the hell does he do it...?"

Cozy on the sofa, I read my favorite manga. Hours passed as my kettle drained itself and the graphic novel found its way back to the table, finished again. I tried my hand at an English novel a girl at school had recommended.

Half an hour passed before I gave up on that and exfoliated my face. Still not sleepy, I glanced at the alarm clock next to my bed. 11:56. I got off work early, five, to get ready to leave for tomorrow's case. Shopping killed two hours tops. My night was entirely too long. As a last resort, I filled a hot bath and soaked, letting my mind flow like the water. Steam filled my small bathroom and I closed my eyes. The dripping faucet was music on my weary ears.

Drip, drip drip drip-

**I opened my eyes to darkness. My bathtub was nowhere to be found, indeed I was on my feet instead of laying comfortably.**

**"Mai." Naru? To my left, a light glowed blue. Under it, Naru stood waiting. I walked over and he gave me a gentle smile.**

**Ah~ a dream. "I've missed this- You've been out for the past few cases. A-Are you here to help me with this one?" I returned Naru's smile, only to find him looking concerned. He grabbed my hand.**

**"Where have you been?" his question confused me. Where've _I_ been?**

**"N-Naru-? I-"**

My body lurched forward as I gasped for air. The bright light of my bathroom mirror burned my eyes. I fell asleep in the bathtub. Stupid! I drained the tub and dried off, hoping I could continue talking to the Naru in my dreams after I went to bed. Once I'd dressed I went to hang my towel. I saw something that stopped me cold.

My mirror. My fogged mirror. The fog had cleared somewhat, though I'd neglected to dry it with my towel. Water condensed and dripped down the front of the glass in familiar shapes.

My mirror. Covered in handprints. Handprints too small to be mine.

Suffice it to say I did not sleep again that night.

* * *

Poor Mai! Will her friends find out? What's the cause of her insomnia? What will SPR's next case be? We'll find out soon.

Review, SVP. T'would make me many kinds of happy.

x thief.


	3. My Brother

At five, I gave up the charade of trying to snooze. Naru didn't visit me again. Truthfully, I wasn't surprised. I threw together my necessities for the coming case, and packed them into my usual duffel bag.

I picked up the habit of packing more clothes than appropriate after a certain case where one outfit got bloody, one covered in mud, and the other, well, just plain _ripe_. I'd had to wear one of Masako's dresses. At least somewhere she'd found the sense to pack clothing that wasn't a kimono. Regardless, she wasn't too happy about it.

The sun stretched its fingers and, once again I, Taniyama Mai, prepared tea. Green tea was my favorite morning tea, after weeks of trial and error, I declared it superior.

**"Where have you been?" **Naru's question from last night's dream rang in my mind. The improved version of my boss failed to show up in my dreams for the past four cases. I still had dreams relevant to the cases we were on, but it didn't seem right without Naru there to guide me. He'd never been away that long before. I sipped my tea in wonder.

Small hand prints were dried on my mirror when the sun rose fully and I dared to investigate. I held up my own hand for comparison; there was no way it could have been mine. A shiver went down my spine and I ran back to check the time on my alarm clock. The office wouldn't open for a few hours yet, but I was fiending for someone to talk to.

"Y-ooo," My favorite Bou-san yawned as he answered his cell phone. Damn him. I wanted a cell phone badly, or at least a cordless, I thought as I twisted the phone cord into ringlets.

"Is it too early for creepy old men? My apologies, you must need your beauty sleep." I could mess around with Bou-san: he didn't know it was Naru-week. Yet. And he'd make it a joke when he found out, anyways.

"Did my Mai-chan have a nightmare?" The monk used a mocking, playful tone.

I didn't know what to say. At some point in the past, yes, I did. And I'd been high strung since that point.

"Mai? Are you okay? You seemed kind of out of it on that last case, did that dream of the man committing suicide bother you that much? I thought you handled it pretty well, but..." Bou-san prattled on.

"No, no, it's nothing like that-"

"Because if my little girl needs a shoulder to cry on-" Takigawa Houshou's voice resembled that of a toddler near tears.

I laughed at the silly monk, but that wasn't why I called. "Uh- Bou-san? Could you drop by my apartment before you leave for SPR?"

* * *

The monk compared his hand size to the prints on my mirror.

"Geez, Mai. I don't know who did this. These prints are practically a child's. Actually, it reminds me of when children finger paint and put hand prints all over the walls. So, what exactly happened last night?"

I relayed the story, minus the confusing exchange with Naru in my dream. Once Bou-san heard the word "sleep," though, he started to form his own opinions.

"You had another dream? Pretty early, considering we aren't even on the same island that our case is on. Be a good girl, tell Bou-san what happened."

"I didn't have a dream. Well, it wasn't one of _those_ dreams. It was a completely useless one." I glanced back at the mirror and shivered. "I don't sense anything in the apartment, either. Nothing that would have been active enough to want to contact me but not through my usual method."

Bou-san thought for a while and finally exhaled, "Have Ayako make protective charms for your apartment when we get back from the case. I'd do a barrier myself but it takes too much out of me and we might need that energy for the case. Especially since we'll be short a medium and an exorcist." Masako was filming and John had flown back to Australia to take care of some personal matters. Bou-san ruffled my hair and continued, "If anything happens after that, we'll call in these hot new experts, SPR, I hear they've been solving everything this side of the Prime Meridian."

"Uck, just imagine, Lin-san and Naru setting cameras up in my apartment." I groaned, "and where would base be? This is a tiny room! And Naru... demanding tea from me in my own kitchen..."

"Disturbing. Get your stuff, Mai-chan, we should be leaving soon..."

"Oh! I nearly forgot!" I wasn't wearing anything sombre! I abandoned Bou-san in the living room and retreated to my room to remedy the situation. As if the black skirt didn't say enough, I explained to the monk when I returned, "For this week, I am mature, professional, and intelligent."

"...like Naru had a sex change..." The monk doubled over, holding in chuckles.

"What was that?"

"Not even a giggle? You're doing well, but you still need more of a "Bow down to greatness - Me" attitude. It's gonna be a long week for you, my condolences. Let's go, Mai-chan."

* * *

Though monk and I were slightly early getting to the office, Lin-san and Naru were already packing equipment.

"Naru-chan!" Bou-san waved and wandered over to the van. I pulled a small item out of the car and followed him over.

"Mai-" Naru turned to me, using his tea-craving, slightly needy tone of voice.

"Hai." Instead of turning heel and walking up to the office to make fresh tea, I handed Naru the thermos in my hands and started helping Lin-san with the last bit of equipment. Bou-san gave the young man a grin and turned back to the car. Naru, unphased, leaned on the van and continued reading from his manilla folder, thermos in hand.

"It's probably about time to pick Ayako up, I'll be back in a few. Don't read too many parapsychology books while I'm gone, Mai-chan~" I gave him my best glare for good measure. Lin-san and I were already finished with the van, and I heard Lin-san call out to the monk as I locked the back door.

"Takigawa-san." Lin-san gave the monk a pointed look. Bou-san nodded and the two older men got in Bou-san's car and drove off.

"Mai." I was alone... with Naru. I turned to face him. A very irate Naru.

"Naru."

"This tea is lukewarm."

"Hai." Thus, I trotted back up to the office to prepare fresh tea for my boss.

* * *

Next time: Bou-san and Lin's coversation? What do the two of them have to talk about, anyways! SPR's tanks don't talk to each other that much. Will Mai have psychic dreams on this case?

It's 5:27 AM and your author is signing off.

Once again, review and point out my boo boos, SVP.

x thief.


	4. Dark Blue

"Beppu? Don't tell me we're investigating a tourist destination?" I questioned Bou-san as we made our way to the airport. Perhaps I was the only one who thought there was something strange about Naru and Lin-san accepting a case that we would actually need a plane to get to. And accepting it _right away _at that.

"If you're going to question anyone, grill that boss of yours. Honestly, if he thinks we're going to exorcise anything at an onsen, he's truly lost his mind." A bitter female voice sounded from the front seat, opposite the monk. Matsuzaki Ayako had slept in; we'd almost had to leave her behind.

"Ah~ Matsuzaki-san, save your hostility for someone who deserves it." The young man seated beside me in the back of the car, Yasuhara, grinned at the back of Ayako's head. While the book-smart boy had opted to come along to the airport, he wasn't actually going anywhere.

Bou-san and Lin-san were gone an hour longer than it usually took to pick Ayako up. (I thought maybe they'd abandoned me with Naru -who, by the way, used a good chunk of that hour to attack me on such matters as ...'not playing solitaire on a work laptop.' "No matter how much time you spend trying, you still won't win." I hadn't even played solitaire that day.) Just as I was starting to harbor resentment towards my chipper older brother figure, he returned with Lin-san, Ayako... and Yasuhara.

"We're not actually going near any hot springs," Bou-san clarified, "The Takata family owns an onsen, yes, but we're going to their estate- half an hour away. Takata Kenji and his daughter live there alone while Takata-san's brother takes care of the family's onsen resort. Lin was very clear about where we _were_ and _were not _going while on this investigation. Hot springs are not on our agenda."

Ayako blanched. No doubt she'd been expecting more 'vacation' than investigation.

"Don't worry, you can relax soon - I mean, retirement can't be too far away for you, eh?" Yasuhara was saved only by the seat back between himself and the raging woman.

"We're here."

* * *

Ah~ I'd never been in a private plane before. Scratch that- never been in a plane, period. It wasn't as posh as I hoped it would be, but it was cool anyways. It turned out Yasuhara had come along to the airport to deal with Bou-san's car and wish me luck on my first flight. How the plane sustained the weight of a few people and SPR's multitude of heavy equipment was beyond me.

The world outside those bubble windows fascinated me: all those clouds, so peaceful. I stationed myself in a seat between a window and a certain sleeping miko. A few feet away, Bou-san's MP3 player blasted punk rock. He probably received a massive glare from my boss, but I wasn't about to turn and check. Naru'd probably warp the situation into one that would boost his gluttonous ego.

After the flight came the drive. Takata-san rented a van for us and, after piling our equipment plus ourselves snugly inside, we made for the estate. I lost track of time as I sat between my friends. Once again, I zoned out.

It was mid-afternoon when we came upon Takata-san's property. "House" didn't cover it- it was really more of a mansion. Obviously, the family business went well. Takata-san and Hitomi-chan arrived shortly before us and had the maids prepare rooms for us. The house may have been giant, but Takata Kenji was fairly frugal for a man so obviously loaded. Instead of filling the estate with various servants, the only help he required was that of two live-in maids and a full-time cook.

Emptiness. I took my first step into the mansion and emptiness flooded through me. The rooms were large, tastefully decorated even, but carried a strong feeling of neglect.

"All this space, and no one to use it." I said to nobody in particular. The house wasn't that old: I'd give it fifty or sixty years, tops. Both the interior and exterior were more Western than traditional, but in an elegant way.

There were three floors total. Takata-san, his daughter, and the two maids had rooms on the third. The cook wasn't live-in like the maids, but lived a few minutes away with his family.

Naru, Lin-san, Bou-san, Ayako and I followed the maids to the second floor where they gave us keys to five separate rooms. I officially felt pampered. My own room _with a key _signalled I'd have no problem hiding my lack of sleep from my coworkers. I called dibs on the room closest to the stairs; farthest from the key-less room designated as base. I didn't bother to look at my room first, I just hurried back to the van to grab my duffel bag, my laptop, and a few extension cords.

Base looked like a bedroom that had been haphazardly converted into a lounge. It still had the feel of someone's personal room, yet the bed had been removed and replaced with a few sofas and tables. It seemed wrong somehow. I dropped the wad of extension cords on one such table and made for my room. The men decided to haul equipment in first, yet Ayako and I had our priorities straight with wanting to set up our belongings first. In my case, there wasn't much to set up.

I unlocked the door to the white and blue room and stared. Damn, was it beautiful. Takata-san's interior decorator must have been an artist. The bed was certainly luxurious. I sat down next to my laptop and looked around. Ah~ a dresser. Frequently, we didn't have such thorough accommodations while working. It was nice to know my black clothes wouldn't be duffel bag wrinkled during Naru-week. I unpacked the clothes from my bag. It seemed silly to want to make myself at home while working, so I left my toiletries in my duffel bag and tossed it under the bed.

I guess I took longer than I thought dawdling in my room, because as I came back to base, the boys had set up shelves and were already working with monitors. _Ayako_ was even back, already.

"Bou-san, Matsuzaki-san, Mai" Naru motioned towards the cameras, "We'll start by placing cameras at the ends of corridors on the third floor. Also, Hitomi-chan's room may be a hot spot. For that room, we'll use a thermographic camera along with a regular one."

I groaned. I was getting cranky, not to mention a little dizzy. The stairs at that mansion seriously kicked my ass. The two worker bees and I set out.

Eight cameras for one floor. Borderline ridiculous. The second and third floors were planned like sideways 'H's, with two corridors joined by a hallway of equal length. The stairs were in the very center of the 'H'; the two floors looked identical. The way this house was planned, it could have been a hotel.

"Geez, I doubt any of these rooms have seen a person in years." Bou-san exclaimed as we shuffled down the third floor's central hallway. The monk fiddled with the central camera while Ayako and I spread to cover the ends. The older pair bickered about how best to fix a power source issue, but eventually we discovered we had to use extension cords to connect the four cameras at the ends of the 'H' to their central ones. In short, it was a mess. Hitomi-chan's room proved far less of a challenge. Lin-san voiced his approval over the radio, and we headed downstairs.

One good thing about SPR's recent investigation spree: Naru updated his equipment. Instead of having to lug around both cameras and microphones, my boss finally splurged on cameras with high-quality mics. With the three of us working in tandem, we finished shortly after 5 PM.

Coming down the stairs, I was bombarded by fatigue. I tried to calculate how long it'd been since I slept. Not counting the fleeting nap in the tub yesterday, I neared 36 hours. Oh. No wonder I was dizzy. I'd hit this point before- usually after a whole day without sleep I needed a series of power naps to get back to feeling human. Only... I'd never gone 36 hours without sleep on a case before. Regardless, I reported back to base.

I glanced over Lin-san's shoulder at the monitors. Creepily, all of the hallways looked the same; I couldn't tell which one was which. Tiny white lights snowed up my vision and I quickly landed myself on the nearest sofa as Naru spelled out his orders for our first night. Within moments, the lightheadedness faded. I looked up to see Lin-san and Naru giving me each their own patented scrutinizing glare. I blinked, not phased; Naru continued his speech.

"...watching the monitors closely. Shortly, we'll be having dinner with the Takata family and staff. We have five people total we need to interview, so we may be able to finish that tonight. From what I understand, one of the maids, the cook and the daughter are the only people who've experienced anything abnormal first-hand. Takata-san gave us their accounts as his own when he made a request to us. The cook and the maid have heard knocking noises several times on every floor. The issue of Hitomi-chan being discovered in a wall is of greater importance. It's possible she could be poltergeisting, but I've never heard anything about poltergeists putting people in walls."

"How do we know she wasn't simply playing hide-and-seek? In this house, with no kids her age around, you'd think the little girl would constantly mess around with the maids..." Ayako threw her two cents in.

"Her father had to pound a hole in the wall to get her out." Lin-san didn't even turn from the monitors to deliver his retort. Well, that ended that train of thought. Ayako shut up immediately. Lin-san really knew how to kill a conversation sometimes.

"Excuse me~ Takata-san requests you come downstairs for dinner now." The maid knocked on the half-open door and offered us a polite smile. She didn't look scared- it must have been the other one who heard knocking noises. I wondered at that: how come only one of the maids heard anything?

Dinner. Dinner was uneventful and delicious. At least, I assumed it was. The small family and their staff made polite conversation with SPR, and I found myself wanting to fawn over Hitomi-chan. How many cases had I worked on that involved kids? Little kids like Hitomi-chan? Too many, it seemed, as I never failed to get attached to the tormented youngsters. I picked at my food and found my eyes glued to a certain piece of artwork on the wall opposite me. A red painting, abstract art. It didn't really fit with the rest of the house, but somehow it just belonged.

The red was a familiar, calming color. The same bright crimson as my alarm clock at home, or better yet, Naru's autosuggestion machine.

Before I knew it, dinner was ending and the maids were removing our plates. It was such a pretty red...

"Mai-chan? Mai-chan!" Bou-san called me from the foot of the stairs. The dining room was next to the foyer, and his voice echoed over from the other room. I blinked. The table was completely devoid of people. I jumped up and ran to catch up with the team. Bou-san stood at the foot of the stairs, hands on his hips.

"Ah~ sorry."

"Do you feel anything in this house?" Bou-san asked. Right to business, eh? I looked around the foyer and let the house's nothingness embrace me.

"Empty. The house is so empty," I felt a dizzy spell seize me again. Most likely, Naru and Lin-san didn't need me there to interrogate witnesses. I started hurrying up the flight of stairs alongside the monk. It was only a matter of time before I passed out. "Bou-san, tell Naru-"

"That Taniyama-san is working hard at gathering information." Bou-san gave me a small smile.

As I locked my door behind me, sleep threatened to overcome me. I didn't bother to turn the light on, a sliver of moonlight lit half the room. I needed something, though. I stumbled my way over to corner dresser and searched the bottom of the drawer where my skirts were. I felt the familiar fabric and let out a sigh of relief: I pulled out my usual good night charm. I wadded it up and placed it over the pillow of the beautiful blue bed, and sprawled myself on top of the comforter.

Immediately, the world went black. I smiled as I slept- curled up on my favorite "Ghostbusters" shirt.

* * *

Long, long chapter. More description than dialogue I think, and lots of editing. Awhgeez. By the way, the "beautiful blue" of Mai's room is a color she is veeeery familiar with. Hmm.

Many thanks for reviews! Continue to write them, SVP :D

+Props to NobleBrokenBeauty: chapter three was, in fact, a whole lot of filler.+

x thief.


	5. Waltz in A minor

Abruptly, a chill pulled me from sleep. Shit. That nap was nowhere near long enough to bring me back to humanity. What was worse: no dream. No dream Naru. No hints about what was happening in that house. I did not rise from the ball I was curled into; hugging my knees closer to my chest, I squeezed my eyes tightly and tried to fight my way back to unconsciousness.

It was no good.

* * *

**2:49 AM, base:**

While Mai, Bou-san and Matsuzaki-san slept, Naru sighed and read over the interviews _yet another _time. There had to be something in there, some clue. Talking to Takata-san and that maid, Yamada Ryoko, who hadn't seen anything proved fruitless. The teenager had spoken with them only to try and decipher pieces of the house's history. Really, there was little they could tell him that Lin wouldn't find out from more reliable sources.

The cook, Akiyama Tsutomu, at least had stories to tell. A handful of nights as he left work after making dinner, the kitchen door slammed shut and locked him inside. He'd had to shout for someone to unlock the door. To alleviate the situation, he removed the lock from the door entirely. The following incident, as the door slammed the lights went out and he heard rapping noises. Several of the pots and pans hanging on the ceiling fell; when the lights came back, the door was wide open.

True, it could be a poltergeist, if Naru had only considered that man's testimony.

Kita Yuka, the maid who'd seen activity, had slightly similar experiences to Akiyama-san. She'd been shut in rooms numerous times, while tidying up the manor. Interestingly enough, there didn't seem to be anything in common with the rooms she'd been shut in: bedrooms, bathrooms, lounges, on different floors and all. However, Kita-san reported three instances where she wasn't locked in alone.

Three times, the young woman had been shushed as she pounded on the door. Three times, Kita-san turned to face the apparition of a young boy, holding a finger to his lips, begging her to be quiet. Naru's brain worked quickly despite the fact that he was tired and Mai hadn't made him any tea since they'd arrived.

First off, every household member who'd experienced anything first-hand was young. Kita-san was the oldest, 22; the maid aged 27 years hadn't seen or heard a thing. The knocking noises, slammed doors, etc., pointed to a poltergeist, but the ghost visual cancelled out that theory. The spirit did not seem particularly violent, indeed it appeared to be more interested in hiding its victims. Sheltering them; warning them to be quiet, but why? Why did it put Hitomi-chan in a wall? Naru's interview with the little girl hadn't gone well: she disliked Naru for some reason and would only talk to Bou-san. And no way in hell could Bou-san conduct a proper interview.

"Lin. Have you found anything noteworthy about the house's history?" Naru finally looked up from his notes to address his assistant.

"This building," the older man's gaze didn't shift from his screens, though he summarized, "is only fifty years old. Three families lived here before Takata-san moved in. The Ishii family, an elderly couple and their grown son, built this house; it hasn't been altered since. When his parents died, the son moved out. The house was sold to the Hayashi family: An old woman, her son and his wife, and their two sons. The wife died of a heart condition shorty after moving in; her youngest son inherited the same condition and died young. The elder son went missing a few years after; he was 19. The remaining family members moved, then came the Fujioka fam-"

It was the youngest Hayashi son. How simple. John Brown would be back from Australia within the week- Naru would see to it he had a chance to exorcise the spirit. Now, for his second motive:

"And Mai?" Naru was not known for being a daft man. His assistant's pathetic attempts to hide whatever was affecting her were useless. Mai was lethargic, miserable even. She was developing shadows under her eyes that no amount of make-up could cover. Her appetite had all but disappeared over the past two weeks. Something was affecting her mood and most importantly, her work. Or health. In Naru's mind, the two were of equal value. The young boss knew the girl well enough to understand asking her about it would be stupid: she'd never admit anything. Whatever was going on in Mai's world had wreaked havoc for too long.

Lin finally turned from his precious monitors to look at his ward. "Takigawa-san picked her up this morning. In addition to witnessing how worn down she was, the monk also saw her bathroom mirror. Apparently, it was covered with marks from child sized hands. Perhaps a wandering spirit took notice of Mai's psychic potential and tried to reach out to her. Maybe she's possessed by it even now."

"I suppose that's possible, though Mai's been afflicted for a few weeks. Undoubtedly, Hara-san would have noticed a spirit tagging along with Mai at some point during an investigation." Naru had become far less picky when it came to accepting clients- it was far easier to keep track of his assistant while she was in a haunted house and Lin had the keys to the van.

"I wonder- what's more frustrating, your assistant screwing up her work, or screwing up her work while cosplaying as you?" It was no secret Lin found_ that _part of the situation amusing.

"For the last time, don't call it cosplay." Naru shot the man a well-earned glare, yet Lin turned back to his monitors.

"They say imitation is the highest form of flattery."

Footsteps sounded down the hallway. A door creaked open softly and a certain young employee entered base. Complete with kettle and SPR's plastic 'can't-break-'em' tea cups, Mai took a seat across from Naru. Without words, she filled three of the cups with hot tea. She placed one neatly in front of her boss, and another at the end of the table nearest Lin. As Mai raised her own cup towards her mouth, Naru wound his hand around it and tugged the cup away. In one expert gulp, the tea was gone.

"Mai. You should be sleeping."

"Hai. Tea." Naru blinked. Was she sleepwalking, or was something serious going on?

"It's three in the morning and nothing has happened that would require yourself, Matsuzaki-san, or Bou-san's help." His composure in place, Naru reasoned with the girl. Mai wasn't even looking in his direction: she stared at the red curtains drawn across base's window. She turned back to her boss suddenly and asked sharply,

"What did you mean by 'Where have _I_ been,' anyways?"

Naru'd had enough; he'd deal with this later. He rose, grabbed his assistant's wrist, and led her to the corner sofa. "Sleep. Now."

"I'm not a puppy, Naru! Mai, sleep. Mai, tea. Mai, bad Mai. You could at least command me around like a _human_ or say _thank you _for things like _tea_ or- I can't even sleep with the constant keyboard noises and your brain's gears whirring at the speed of light, and _honestly-"_

Music cut the girl's delirious rant in half: piano music. Soothing. She gaped at the man with the laptop. "Lin-san, you listen to music? Naru-" her attention span brought her back to the dark youth in front of her, "does this mean you like music, too? I thought the both of you-" Mai felt a sudden pressure on her neck, and in less than a second she was out cold.

"Lin. Thanks," Naru sighed, "we really have to do something about this."

"Mm. You might want to get her a blanket, at least." Thus, the teenage boy paced down the hall towards Mai's room. The light showed her bed to have been only slightly mussed: she must not have slept long, if at all. He yanked the blue comforter free from the bed and glanced down at the tee shirt that fell from it. He allowed himself a smile.

When Naru returned to base, all was well. Lin still had music playing to mask his typing if Mai should wake, and Mai was still sound asleep.

"Chopin?" he asked. The older man nodded. It had been a long night, indeed.

* * *

I guess Mai's secret wasn't so secret. Hehe, can't wait to write how Oliver & Co- ahem, Naru & SPR go about trying to solve Mai's problem! :D

Naru gave us most of this chapter in third person omniscient, but Mai will narrate again as soon as she's in a suitable frame of mind.

Thanks for reading! Review, s'il vous plaît! Pros and cons help (:

+Here's to SpirallingHarmony, who knows just what shade Mai's favorite blue is. Cheers!+


	6. Closed Doors

A warning: Mild amounts of foul language in this chapter. This is rated 'T',after all.

* * *

**I walked peacefully down the hallway towards Ichirou's room, skillfully avoiding my mother's attention. I chanced a glance into her room, seeing her safe in bed, tucked under a bright red comforter. She gabbed on the phone as I slipped past her door, oblivious to her disobediant son. Not that she would do much if she caught me: okaa-san rarely leaves her bed. She's sick like me.**

**"And what do you think you're doing up?" Dark eyes trained themselves on me the second I entered my brother's room. I closed the door softly behind me and made my way over to his bed. Ichirou sat there, reading beside his bedside lamp as the world outside plunged into darkness.**

**"Onii-san... I don't want to go back to sleep. I-I just wanted to see your drawings again." No one could draw like my brother. At sixteen, he's already better than a lot of old people. Ichirou sighed.**

**"Fine. Top drawer of the dresser, pick a few and bring them back upstairs. You really need to get back to sleep- do you know how much trouble you could get in if that woman came up here and found you?"**

**Almost on cue, heavy footsteps sounded from the stairs.**

**"Shit," Ichirou dropped his book and ran his hands through his dark hair. A boozy-sounding voice called his name. "She sounds pissed again. Hide under the bed, quick!"**

**I felt like crying. Obaa-san hated him for no reason. Onii-san clicked off the small lamp and we both crawled under the bed. Hopefully, she'd just think he ran off again. Ichirou likes to escape the house some nights. I wish I could go with him. I clutched the now crumpled drawings closer.**

**The sound of a door opening... Light flooded from the hall into my brother's room.**

**"Where is that son of a bitch? Come out, little shit, I want a word with you. Did you run away again? You usually bring your books with you." Ichirou cursed under his breath.**

**"Shh~ she'll hear you." I couldn't help but whimper. Obaa-san pulled my brother's leg, and soon I was alone under the bed. She unleashed a string of profanities at him and I heard clearly the sound of fist hitting flesh. Peering out from my hiding place, I witnessed Ichirou's nose leaking blood onto the carpet. He clutched it and glared daggers at the woman. She made to smack him again, but her more agile grandson gave her an apt shove into the wall; Ichirou's mirror cracked and fell. This time my brother was the one offering up a piece of his mind. She may hate him, but the two are all too similar in vocabulary.**

**The sound of glass shattering... Obaa-san sank to the floor. From her new stance, she could see my hiding place clearly. Ichirou crouched next to the lamp, clutching what looked to be a broken nose.**

**"And you- What the hell do you think you're doing in this delinquent's room?" Roughly, she pulled me out by my shirt collar; Ichirou's drawings were ripped from my hand. I pulled myself out of her arms and made to grab them back, only to land my hand on shards of the broken mirror. The older woman reached for me again. Raising me in the air to better yell at me, I drowned out her words with my crying. The strong smell of alcohol on her burned my nose.**

**As she dragged me out into the hallway, okaa-san stood waiting, phone hanging limp in her hands. She looked at me, her eyes lifeless. Brown hair hung over most of her face; I miss when she would stand up for us. Where's otou-san? Please... do something for once... My whole family lives here, and not one of them can do anything to help Ichirou... What an empty, hateful place.**

"Thank you for agreeing to join us on such short notice-" **Obaa-san pulled me roughly back upstairs and shut me in my darkened bedroom. I continued crying, my mother's face burned into my memory. **"-Sure thing, I'm always glad to help out." **I heard her make for the second floor to "deal with the little bastard."**

**Suddenly, the room twisted around. I looked below myself and could see the floor below. The older woman and teenage grandson weren't there.**

**"Mai..." Huh? Oh. I was Mai again, not some little boy. I turned to see a dark young man leaning in the doorway.**

**"Naru- I had a dream! I mean, a case-related dream. It seems like its been forever. Did you show me that one?"**

"We don't believe the spirit to be malevolent, but it would be best to exorc-" **Naru shook his head, "I've had trouble finding your dreams lately. Or I'll find you, then lose your signal right away." Walking closer to Naru, I saw a peculiar expression of worry on his face. "It's getting worse. Mai- why haven't you been dreaming? Usually you're easy to track down while you're unconscious. You must not be getting enough sleep- or your subconscious has been drifting to an unfamiliar dream plane..."**

**I shuddered. Red, blood red. Everyone, red; everywhere. Splatters across my eyes, a dirty red camera lens.**

**"Mai?" I shook my head clear and looked back at Naru. **"Well, I could start with the little girl's room. I don't suppose you've registered any activity on your moni-"

**"I had a nightmare. I can't remember it. I just got a flash of it- Blood. Lots of it. Anyway, I haven't been sleeping properly since then. Naru- what's happening to me?****"**

**Naru tilted his head slightly, "I'm not sure, but it'll be okay. Have you told Lin?" Wait- Lin? In my dreams, Naru never mentions any of our team members. It's like he doesn't know them. Why would he start now? I backed up, confused. Naru looked different to me somehow. He reached his arm towards me-**

**My dream drained to black.**

* * *

"I suppose we could wait for a while. If it's possible to have Taniyama-san do a cleansing, that would be preferable." My eyes fluttered open, and I raised my groggy body into a sitting position. I found myself on a sofa in base, and in yesterday's clothing, nonetheless. At a nearby table sat Naru, John, Ayako, and a kettle. Don't tell me someone besides Mai, tea slave extraordinaire, made tea for Naru?

"Taniyama-san." I turned to the monitors and saw Lin giving me a critical glance. "I'll assume you're back to normal after last night's episode."

"What do you mean-" I yawned, "What happened last night?"

A sharp voice answered for Lin, "Nothing. My sleep-deprived assistant just couldn't resist making a nuisance of herself in the dead of night while we were trying to work." I blushed- whatever shenanigans I was up to while dead tired were obviously not well received by my boss. I peeked up at him: yes, those eyes held disapproval, to say the least. I avoided his gaze by looking back at my comforter. Uh-oh. That blue... I buried my blush in it, feining sleepiness.

Ayako gave me a concerned look, "Mai, whatever this is it's obviously not healthy. Lin had to knock you out! We should really get you to see someone-"

"Which will wait until after the case. Lin and I know the right person to deal with Mai's pathetic sleeping pattern. But until then, wrapping up the case is our priority." Naru turned back to John, ignoring the woman's scorn.

"Bou-san is out checking temperatures on the first floor, Matsuzaki-san can join him. I'm assuming most of the activity will be limited to the third floor, but we should cover all the bases."

I stood and smoothed yesterday's skirt's creases. The light from the large window was bright, too bright for morning: It had to be at least mid-day. How long had I slept? The red curtains distracted me when, suddenly, I remembered where I was. Second floor. In my dream, I was a young boy creeping past this room. The mother's room. I waited until John left to tour the house before telling Naru what I saw.

"Ichirou? You mean Hayashi Ichirou?" Naru was glad I was productive after my 'episode', I could tell.

"Mmm. His grandmother liked to get wasted and wail on him." A shiver went up my spine at the memory of the intoxicated woman's rampage against her grandchildren. Naru leaned back in his chair.

"The younger brother, Hayashi Masaki, is the spirit in this house. He traps children and young adults, believing they are Hayashi Ichirou, and that he is protecting them from his grandmother."

I was surprised at how much Naru knew. Maybe he didn't even need to hear my dream. "Naru? What happened to them? Ichirou and Masaki?"

"Their mother died. Soon afterwards, Masaki died. They both had heart problems. Ichirou continued to live with his father and grandmother. At 19, he ran away. There's no record of what happened to him. Indeed, his disappearance was never even brought to the police." An icy feeling crept over my stomach: Ichirou died. Sickened, I turned away from Naru and grabbed for the kettle.

"I-I'm going... tea. Would either of you like a cup?" Naru narrowed his eyes, yet resigned himself with a sigh and nod. Of _course_ he wanted tea, he was _Naru_. My habit was essentially his fault. What I didn't see coming was the "Yes, please, Taniyama-san" I received from Lin-san.

I thought about dream Naru as I made my way down to the kitchen. **"Where have you been?" **and **"...an unfamiliar dream plane..." **jumped at me, they were cryptic clues. The Naru in my dream had no answers for me, only more questions.

The kitchen was beautiful- white, white, and more white. It must have been tough to clean all those white surfaces, but they shone brightly as if polished. Sure enough, as I filled my kettle with water and set it on the stove, one of the maids walked in.

"Oh- Sorry if I startled you. I'm Kita Yuka- I don't believe you were there last night for the interrogation. I hope my information is helping solve this." She offered me a friendly smile. Though I was supposed to be an expressionless Naru, I returned the gesture.

"I'm sure, Kita-san. Naru already has a good idea of the responsible spirit and its motives. I'm certain it'll all be over soon." Kita-san brightened considerably and closed the difference between us, giving me a heartfelt hug.

"Thank you~! I can't tell you how stressful its been- trying to hold a job in a haunted house-" She laughed at her words as though they were ridiculous, but it was obvious how much the experience had affected her. My kettle started singing and the young woman released me from the embrace. The second I placed the kettle on a cool burner, the lights went out.

Sudden anxiety gripped me. She's coming. She's going to hurt us- "We have to hide- NOW." I grabbed Kita-san and opened two cupboards, "We have to hide- she's going to get us." I teared up at the thought- to see her hurt someone again.

"Taniyama-san? What do we need to hide from? Is the ghost here?" Kita-san's eyes went wide from the distraught look on my face. I couldn't explain. No-wait. There was no ghost coming. Masaki is the ghost- he wouldn't hurt anyone, yet "We have to hide" continued to spout from my lips.

"Shh. She'll hear you."

Then I realized I was possessed. Before, I could control my body, but now Masaki had me cowering in a cupboard similar to Kita-san's. Knocking noises filled the kitchen as I closed the cupboard door. I heard Obaa-san shouting for Masaki. Several crashes followed, one of which I knew to be the kettle. The floor shook severely.

**"So. Where is that bastard, your older brother?" I said nothing. Her words echoed down through the kitchen. Obaa-san was too drunk to deal with. She grabbed my wrists and shook my body. **

**"I don't care what you do to me. I will die anyways. Like okaa-san. Leave Ichirou alone; none of this is his fault." My reasoning was well beyond my years. My mother's funeral had bruised me more than this woman ever could.**

**"Like hell its not. If that _thing_ hadn't been born, my son wouldn't have married that bitch. He would have had a nice, respectable woman and wouldn't have to raise you two brats." I didn't want to hear it. I was dizzy as it was, my health had been worse since mother died.**

**I looked up just in time to see that woman's hand fly forward and make contact with my face. I touched my lip. Blood.**

**"What are you doing?" Ichirou, Looking from me to her. Ichirou, grabbing my wrist and pulling to put distance between me and her. Ichirou, fighting back as she twisted his arm. A snap; another broken arm for my brother.**

A scream left my lungs aching. Then, abruptly, it stopped. Masaki smiled, left my hiding place, and called for Kita-san to do the same.

Immediately, Bou-san came crashing through the door. "Mai!" He ran over to me.

"It's alright now." Masaki used my voice, but Bou-san looked at me in disbelief. The kitchen was a wreck. Had Masaki done this, or was there really another spirit? That horrible woman... Masaki shivered in fear at my thought and earned us an even more worried Bou-san. The monk practically carried me back up to base. I tried to will my mouth to move: "_I'm possessed_." No words came out.

* * *

Well, there. This case will end soon~ and then, well, you'll see.

This chapter was really long for me (around 2500 words. geez!), and tricky to edit, but it should be close to par, I hope!

Review, s'il vous plaît! It's so much fun reading reviews. Though I do need criticism too, y'know. :D

x. thief


	7. Warmth

Bright patches of afternoon sun graced the empty hallways as gradually, Masaki gained more control over my body. Bou-san led me closer to base, while I slipped in and out of consciousness. I wouldn't be able to perform a cleansing in this state; the spirit definitely had the upper hand. I couldn't sense any hostility coming from him, but I wasn't really fond of being possessed and wanted him out.

_Please. Masaki, your brother is dead. I don't know how, but I just know. You're dead, too. It's time to pass on- Ichirou is waiting._

I pleaded in my own head, hoping he'd hear. I'd never been this aware of being possessed before. Aside from being disorienting, it was crushing that Bou-san didn't seem to notice I wasn't Mai. I crossed the threshold of the mother's former bedroom and entered base. Immediately, Naru trained his blue eyes on me. Ah~ A nice color. Only- different somehow from the Naru in my dreams. Real Naru's eyes seemed completely different, though I couldn't pinpoint- HEY. I stopped that train of thought. Masaki forced a smile to form on my lips and didn't break Naru's glare.

_Oh, come on! You can't smile! Don't make this awkward for me, Masaki... Please, pass on._

I gave my all to try and lighten my spirit: sending a cleansing message to the boy. It would have been so easy if Masako was available. I'd never cleansed a spirit before. Naru had told me to give it a shot on several previous cases, to make myself "useful" to the team. In fact, every case we get these days with a non-dangerous spirit, Naru and Bou-san suggest I try to cleanse it. Though I've tried, it's never worked.

Once again, the room crumbled to black as unconsciousness pulled me under. From that point on, Masaki was alone with SPR.

****

* * *

**Darkness; so much darkness. I really ought to get used to these situations. With a look down, base was revealed. My body, under Masaki's control, crouched uncomfortably on the carpet. I slumped; a certain priest splashed holy water on me.**

"John's dispelling the spirit," stated a cool voice. A Naru dream- _again_. After making himself so scarce, I was glad of his comeback, however temporary it could be. I turned to face him, giving his irises a critical scan. They look kinder than they do when he's awake... There's something else, too- Oh, I don't know. I looked away in a hurry.

****

**"Mm, about time. They caught on so fast..." I shrugged; SPR was good at their work.**

**"Actually, I think you've been possessed since that man and his daughter came to the office. The spirit had attached itself to the little girl, yet clung to you, a medium, as it got a chance." I calculated quickly- three days? I was on the third day of a possession before the spirit showed himself. He must have been patient. Maybe that could have explained some of the weakness, too. No, wait. That was just sleep deprivation. The dizzy spells happened on other cases, too, yet none as severe as the recent ones.**

**"Naru- why did it cling to me for three days before making an attempt to completely possess me?" I asked quietly. Usually, a spirit would reveal itself right away if it was in another person. I thought back to the short case the team and I had been on in a park- Masako was possessed. Seeing the doll-like girl act like she did was a rare treat. But this was nothing like that.**

**"That's something I myself am wondering. The spirit made a sort of barrier around you, yet it let me through to visit you. Finding you on your dream plane lately has been difficult. A maze. Perhaps the spirit had a similar problem and could not do an immediate possession because of it. Though the spirit attached to you made a barrier, there is a stronger one trying its best to repel me. I'm unsure what it is or why it's doing this. All I know is one thing: something does not want me talking to you." Naru walked forward and motioned for me to come along. I realized the house with my body inside it had disappeared. Naru and I were alone in thick, black nothingness.**

**"Well, what can we do about it?" My scared voice quivered slightly. _Something _was trying to keep Naru from guiding me in my sleep. _Something_ didn't want me to sleep, period. _Something _gave me nightmares that I blocked out upon waking- probably for my own good. This something was bad news.**

**"I need to gather more information... Mai. How much do you know about your psychic plane?" I blinked, confused. **

**"Not a thing. Is that where we are now?" I raised a finger to my cheek and thought.**

**"Yes and no- this is your dream plane. The two are closely related, but this is just part of a bigger psychic plane. While your dream plane is a "place" in your mind that you can actually visit, a psychic plane is intangible. You can't see it or visit it. Spiritually unaware people don't really have them, but that's a whole other matter- psychic planes are sometimes called "spirit planes" because they are what allow you to have a medium's gifts. Your psychic plane is how I contact you. Everyone has a different signature, though they are all connected."**

**I stood still. It could make sense, but I was beginning to feel gravity pulling me down into the abyss. It was distracting.**

**"Stay with me, Mai." I looked up at a not-so-nonchalant looking Naru. He took my hand and continued to walk with me. "I track down your unique psychic signature, which leads me to your dream plane. Things here are usually full of a person's subconscious thoughts and worries, but usually yours include cases you go on. That is how it was easy for me to pull pieces of cases together and present them to you in your own dream plane. However, a few weeks ago I started getting shut out." Naru stopped walking and pointed at something in front of him.**

**There, suspended in the total darkness, hung a delicate silver chain that seemed to radiate its own soft light. A necklace? I'd never seen that before, why would it be part of my subconscious? Maybe I just didn't remember it... Resting on the chain was a beautiful oval pendant. A red one. What a pretty red- I shuddered. Blood red.**

**"I started getting blocked as soon as _that _showed up." Naru gave it a wary stare.**

**"It's just a necklace, Naru- maybe it was my mom's or somethi-" I walked forward to grab it, but Naru latched onto my arm, pulling my back into his chest. I blushed furiously: he could be so touchy-feely in my dreams. Gravity gave a harder tug and reminded me that my body was waiting for me below. The exorcism must have been a success.**

**"You have to go back, Mai. When you do, tell... a researcher what we've discussed. You need more information if we're going to fix this. I can only do so much. I don't know when I'll get to see you again..." Naru looked down. He'd never looked so pained before. Wait- a researcher? But Naru was a psychic researcher... "The exorcism will end soon. The boy's spirit will leave your body; meet up with him before you return to it. If you can convince him to be at peace, the spirit will be cleansed." Naru's voice lost volume.**

**Huh? **

**Gravity won; I was ripped away from Naru. An odd sensation spiralled through me, somewhat akin to the twilight between sleep and waking. Only, it was the brink of possession and control of my body. A young boy appeared in the dark before me: roughly Hitomi-chan's age. His dark brown hair fluttered slightly, shielding his eyes. He looked so sad. I walked forward and reached out an arm.**

"Masaki-kun?" I addressed him. Masaki looked up at me, sorrow evident on his face.

"Why won't they help him?" The young boy whispered. "Ichirou... onii-san..." I knelt down to his level, trying once again to let light fill my thoughts.

"Masaki-kun, Ichirou is safe. He left this place. She can't hurt either of you." Masaki's brown eyes lit with understanding.

"Ichirou is dead, isn't he?"

"Yes." Intuition told me it was true. Though it seemed cruel to say, the boy smiled genuinely.

"Okaa-san... she told me when I died I'd go to heaven." Oh, that was why John's exorcism had such an effect- Masaki was a Christian. "Onii-san... That woman was always mean to him. He fought back sometimes. He suffered so much. Will he- will he go to heaven, too?"

"Mm. He's waiting for you- so is your Okaa-san." His smile grew.

A warm light- Hayashi Masaki's spirit left this world.

* * *

Snugly, I landed back in my body. My eyes opened to catch John kneeling beside me, "Are you alright?"

"Mm." I was surprised at how little energy the possession had taken out of me. Or maybe I was disturbingly used to operating on low power. I didn't bother mentioning that the spirit had been tagging along with me for days, I asked the first question that came to mind, "So, how did you guys realize I was possessed so quickly?"

John turned to Ayako. The woman shot a glare at Bou-san, who nudged Lin-san; Lin-san cleared his throat in Naru's general direction.

"It's simple. As dimwitted as you are, Mai, you know better than to smile at me while attempting to cosplay as me." The young man made a sour face and winced slightly as if the horrible words burned his tongue. Apparently, he hadn't meant to use the term 'cosplay.'

... Did he really just say that? Bou-san and I burst out laughing while Lin-san gave his ward a proud half-smile. Naru ignored our reactions and continued in a frigid voice.

"The spirit left Mai of its own will once Father Brown began to exorcise it. Apparently, it wanted to utilize Mai to spread its message to those around the same age as his brother, roughly anyone aged 5 through 25. If I'm correct, It's been following her since she met Hitomi-chan in the office. It only had one chance to speak through Mai, and took full control of her body."

The monk looked worried, but I rolled my eyes at him before he could say anything. "Hearing the lord's prayer had a profound affect on the spirit: the young boy must have been Christian. Then came a bright light, so I'll assume Mai was able to cleanse a spirit like any average medium?" I nodded. Should I have been offended at being 'average'? Naru continued, "...Though Masaki believed he was sheltering others from his grandmother, the old woman's spirit is not in this house. The activity was due to the one spirit alone, and now that it has passed, such occurrences will stop."

Case closed. Naru and John went to explain everything to Takata-san and Hitomi-chan. Ayako, Lin-san, and Bou-san started packing our things while I took a well-deserved shower and thought. The case hadn't taken as long as I'd assumed- I'd scheduled a whole week in my mind for me to dress and act like a proper Naru. Though really I'd only wanted to do it for the duration of one investigation. Should I quit, or continue on for a full week? The question was solved as I rummaged through the wardrobe. On top of the rest of my clothing sat my favorite shirt.

I couldn't resist- It was just so beautifully tasteless.

I opened my laptop gingerly and recorded my dream about Masaki's memories and the uncommon possession. I'd send it to Lin-san later, but for now I had a more pressing matter. I made a new file, password protected, and within that file, I created another secure one. The word-processed document inside should remain secret for now: "The red necklace" was its cryptic title. Inside, I spelled out the past few dreams with Naru. I wrote down everything he'd explained to me before I had a chance to forget it. This was one file Naru and Lin-san should not see. After all, this is my business, not some case for SPR to put under its microscope.

As I helped gather up our equipment, I could have sworn I saw the shadow of a smirk on a certain narcissist. Obviously, he was jealous of my "Ghost Busters" shirt.

"Before you ask, Naru- no, you can't borrow this shirt." I said brightly, not even looking at my fellow teenager. I got no reply, yet could feel the death glare from ten feet away. It was refreshing being immature again.

"Ridiculous, Mai. That was stupid even to consider. Delusions like that won't help verify your sanity with the doctor." I froze. Doctor? Then, I recalled earlier this afternoon: _"Mai, whatever this is it's obviously not healthy. Lin had to knock you out! We should really get you to see someone-" "Which will wait until after the case. Lin and I know the right person to deal with Mai's pathetic sleeping pattern. But until then, wrapping up the case is our priority."_ They're really going to send me to a doctor?

"Naru- I can't go to a- What sort of medical doctor would-? _I SEE GHOSTS. _Are you trying to get me institutionalized-" Obviously, I am a whiz at throwing logical sentences together and forming arguments. In my defense, my blood stream was completely devoid of caffeine. I needed tea, bad. Or perhaps it was time to move on to stronger stuff- black coffee.

"Mai. Calm down." Naru exhaled and adjusted his hair. "In this business, it's useful to know doctors and psychiatrists who can attest to the sanity of a psychic. What use would my research be if it could be discredited by an addled mind?" I guess that made sense. "So, when we return to Tokyo, Lin will call Dr. Hughes- a psychiatrist, and member of the ESRS."

"...ESRS?"

"European Sleep Research Society." Great. Not only was Naru making me see a psychiatrist- he was going to have one shipped over from another country. Fuming, I hurried away from Naru.

"Oh, and Mai-" I stopped, but didn't turn. "-good work today."

...Thanks.

********

* * *

Case closed! I'm not done, though. We have more ground to cover and certain threads are juuuust beginning to unravel. FanFiction was not kind to me as I edited this. It likes to not save things and screw with paragraph ordering from time to time. /: So I apologize if I didn't catch all my inconsistencies.

That "Ghost Busters" shirt sure does cheer Mai up! Or maybe I just write her that way because I would laugh my ass off if in the Ghost Hunt novel/manga/anime, Mai wore a Ghost Busters shirt. I can see her doing that... or Takigawa... I really wish I could bring myself to write a scene where Naru wears it, but that's too OOC... (big ol' sigh) For now, I'll just leave you with the mental image.

Thank you for reading~ Review, s'il vous plaît! J'adore reviews :D A million thanks.

x. thief


	8. Intelligence, or Lack Thereof

All too soon, Takata-san's case was over. I went through the checklist as we made our way to the airport: paranormal phenomenon detected? check. spirit identified? check. reasoning pinpointed? check. spirit cleansed/exorcised? check. Though the investigation was cut and dry, I wondered more and more about Ichirou. Had he really run away- or had that woman killed him? I knew he died at 19, but _how _did I know? Later that night, our plane departed and landed, leaving me in Bou-san's car on the streets of Tokyo. Luckily, Yasuhara had done little visible damage in the short time he "looked after" it.

It was pretty late by the time we'd dropped off Ayako, so Bou-san and I said quick goodbyes. I was exhausted. I still had to send Lin-san my dream log, but deemed it something just important enough to put off. I slouched up the stairs of my apartment building. I lived on the third floor, but, as usual, I chose the short work out over a few seconds' elevator ride. By the time I reached my door, my knees burned and I felt a little more energized. Wearing as many miniskirts as I do, it's important that I exercise and keep my legs "happy."

Inside, home was as I left it. Being back was a relief: I had so much on my mind. I decided tea was a necessity. Slouching off my duffel bag, I meandered into the kitchen with my laptop and threw the kettle on. Last time I was home, anxiety ruled me. A weight had been lifted since then, and I wondered about something as I minded the kettle. Eventually, curiosity overtook me and I crossed through my living room into the bathroom. Deep breath. Release. Clutching the laptop for moral support, I flipped the light switch on and faced my reflection.

The fixture was completely clean, as if the hand prints once dried on had wiped the mirror clean.

Masaki? Naru must have been right in my dream: Masaki had attached his spirit to mine when Takata Hitomi entered the office. The prints were his; it made sense that his being cleansed would remove them. I shook the case from my mind.

As I sat down with my tea and considered unloading my duffel bag, a more important matter came to mind: school. I'd missed so much of it the past few weeks. September was ending: summer vacation was long over, and I'd missed at least two days a week since I'd returned. How will I make it to university if I'm never at school? My friends are on the right track, and I just barely hang on. No doubt I was the second year with the most absences, even if they were work-related. Maybe I should have brought it up with Naru.

Cradling my tea (decaf), I strolled into the room opposite the bathroom. Ah~ my own bedroom. After the princess bed I 'slept' in last, my simple futon looked common; uninviting. I unfurled it into a bed and took a seat, laptop at my side. I was quickly becoming obsessed with the thing: I enjoyed documenting my dreams. I logged on and added more details from today's confusing dream along with a reminder to ask Naru about dream planes and psychic planes. That seemed like something else I could put off, but not for too long. Most likely it would turn into another scathing poke at my lack of intelligence. Even if I dreaded asking Naru, I'd probably be glad I did eventually.

Hey, he may be full of himself, have one hell of a bad attitude, and verbally abuse me ad nauseam (a phrase I learned from him while trying to defend myself against said abuse), but at least he's smart.

Familiar red numbers blinked over to 11:42. Monday night. School tomorrow. It would be senseless to miss it on account of a late flight: I'd attended school dead tired too many times for it to matter. When I'd gulped the tea and added two or three paragraphs to my log, I put the world aside and gave sleep a shot.

...Another long night.

* * *

Kouno-sensei's voice flowed over me: a sweet, lazy river of cadences. I found his voice lacking the scratchy, wheezing quality older men's voices sometimes carried. Indeed, his was a superior voice to doze to. I traced flower patters on my desk; drew them on my notebook. More than once, I was tempted to bring colored pencils to class and give my art life instead of shading them in pencil. However, drawing attention to myself was never a good plan in class. I earned a sharp nudge from someone on my left. Keiko. She raised her eyebrows and looked pointedly at Kouno-sensei.

"Well, well, thank you for joining us. What did you think of the character development in that last short story?" Frozen, I stared at him, before spouting the only word that came to mind. The only thing I remembered about the short story unit.

"Dynamic?" The syllables escaped my lips in a mousy, apologetic voice. Kouno-sensei tilted his head slightly.

I'd read the story on our flight. It was about a man stuck on the subway for an hour; he was affected by the woman next to him dropping a bouquet. Supposedly, it was symbolic. Really, it was too abstract to make sense of today. In a sleep-deprived state of mind, school was easy to handle taking one of two paths: either the intellectual robot approach, where I take notes and try to memorize things, or the creative approach, where I associate whatever we're learning with what my sleepy mind wants to zone in on. I couldn't remember the short story well since I'd used neither method while on the plane.

Sensei's dark brown eyes glared; salt-and-pepper hair shook in disapproval.

A hand shot up in the front of the classroom, and a boy's voice spoke confidently, "The main character was static. All he did through most of the story was wait for the subway to move. The woman next to him dropped a bouquet, reminding him he hadn't visited his mother's grave due to a dispute before she died. Moved, the man went to the closest flower shop as soon as his train allowed. Flowers are the main symbol of the story, supposedly representing the man's emotional growth, yet the main character does little developing other than forgiving his dead mother for her alcoholism. Taniyama-san could be correct saying he was dynamic by accepting his mother's actions, but really, the way it's written hints at the grave visit being no big deal- showing the character to be static."

That answer dwarfed mine. I followed the voice up to the face and was greeted with a smile from the intellectual boy. Kouno-sensei gave him a nod.

"Thank you, Yamada-san." Yamada Ayumu: one of the top students in my year. Great, he had to rub my nose in a pile of ignorance. Luckily, I was saved from further humiliation by an announcement.

"Taniyama Mai, class 2F, report to the principal's office for a phone call. Taniyama Mai, class 2F, to the principal's office."

No doubt a work call.

"Thank you- I'll brew your favorite black tea for that, Naru~" Only Keiko and Michiru had a clue what I was mumbling to myself.

* * *

I knew as soon as I got off my train and started walking towards SPR that something was up. A bright red convertible lounged near the curb, screaming "LOOK AT ME!" An expensive foreign model... displayed for all to see in front of our Shibuya office. It annoyed me; my blood boiled. I hoped someone would key the thing. I hoped Lin-san and Naru would have it towed.

Inside, the office showed not a thing out of order. The lounge was vacant, as expected, and Lin-san and Naru were both holed up in their cave-office combos.

"One of these days, I expect a bat to fly out along with him." I mused out loud, the _him_ could easily represent either of my coworkers: they seemed the type to be unfazed by bats.

Out of habit, my feet marched my body into the kitchenette to make tea. Black for Lin-san and, of course, Naru- no doubt he'd be fiending for caffeine as well; I stuck a green tea bag in a mug for myself. The second I carried the tray back into the lounge, a door opened and my irritated teenage boss walked out.

Not alone.

Tagging along behind him was a middle-aged foreign man. It was all too easy to tell at a distance due to his graying blond hair. He was a sharp dresser- business casual worked well for him. His clothing looked designer, too, he was probably the owner of the flashy convertible. He wore a grim smile as Naru led him to a sofa. At one glance, he motioned for me to have a seat too.

**"I assume this is the girl, then?"** The man changed his grim smile to a friendly one as he looked over my face. I blinked. English. I could at least identify the language, but his words held no meaning for me.

**"Yes, this is my assistant. She doesn't speak English proficiently so you'll have to use Japanese. And remember to use a heavy accent if you use my name, it'll confuse her less. Don't bother with my alias, she doesn't use it."** N-Naru can speak English without a hint of an accent! I mean, I'd heard him speak it before: through his office door as I delivered tea. I caught him a few times in the middle of English phone calls. He'd always be extra foul to me on those occasions. I'd seldom heard him speak foreign languages up close before, but obviously they were something that came naturally to him.

"Naru- what is going on? A new client?" I motioned to the man. If I had known, I would have brought more tea- well, maybe he could have Lin-san's...

"Mai, do you remember what I told you about seeing a psychiatrist?" Immediately, I tensed. Now the man's smile looked menacing to me, somehow, and the word _asylum_ came to mind.

"Hello, I'm Brett Hughes- Kazu-Oli-No... _Naru_, as you call him, brought you to my attention." The man stood and offered a hand for me to shake, which I did timidly. I was glad he spoke Japanese fluently.

"Taniyama Mai. I'm not crazy." Though I felt a little nutty just saying it. The man laughed; Naru held back an eye roll unsuccessfully. "Listen- I don't need to see anyone, Naru-" I gave him a pleading look. "I'm just having trouble sleeping lately. It's nothing major, I'll get over it."

"But you haven't been 'getting over it.' This is the practical way to go about this. Insomnia can be the result of multiple causes, physiological or psycholo-" The dark youth reasoned with me in an icy, condescending tone. I cut him off.

"You're being stupid! This isn't any of your business, even! I can't afford to see someone over something so stupid-"

"SPR is paying. If you want your job, you'll go along with it." I didn't expect him to actually cut me off as I did to him, but sometimes the teen in him comes out. This time, it was a kill shot. With "Ghost Hunter" on my resumé, I doubt any other office would consider hiring me. Shit. He got me.

"Erm- Well, as I was saying, I'm Dr. Hughes. Today's our first session- we'll start it once we get in the office, but before we do, do you have any questions or concerns?" Well, at least he seems polite. Wait- office? Which office?

"Which office are you talking about?" Surely there wasn't another one I hadn't seen stemming from Naru's or Lin-san's? Either of their offices were out of the question. Only when I have the golden ticket, tea, am I ever granted entry to their domains.

"Mine, of course," Blue eyes glanced at me from over a raised cup as Naru followed his words with a sip. I must have looked excited at the idea of exploring his office, because a dark look graced his face instantaneously. "Well- Lin and I have work to do." Thus, my boss raised himself and exited the room. Dr. Hughes smiled and motioned towards Naru's office:

"Well, shall we?"

* * *

**Another chapterrrrrrrrrr. Editing is tough for sleepy authors. =_=**

**Thanks for reading! I can't wait to write the session :D We have a few clues to help solve Mai's mystery, but there are more questions to be asked before answers appear. Where is Dream Naru- what is keeping him away; what is going on in Mai's psychic plane? Which is more dangerous, the necklace, or Mai's poor sleep habits? What about her color obsession: her reverence for (ahem)_ certain_ blues, yet attraction to bright reds? Hmmmm. Tell me what you think will happen!  
**

**Please review!**

**Review, s'il vous plaît!**

**x. thief  
**


	9. Mademoiselle

Once I'd calmed down and accepted my fate, I took a seat in Naru's surprisingly comfortable office chair. Yes, I was about to talk to a _psychiatrist_ who may or may not have me medicated or institutionalized- but I was at least going to be cozy while doing so. The man- Dr. Hughes- closed the door behind me and stationed himself an armchair I'd never seen in Naru's office. Then again, I'd never spent much time in this room. Many times, I caught a glimpse as a teenage boy stormed out or while delivering tea, but I'd never had a chance to take a good look around. The bookshelves didn't interest me: the lack of personal trinkets on Naru's desk was more disturbing. No photos. Not even a calendar. I longed to reach down and peek inside one of the drawers.

Suddenly, thick silence pressed down on me. Lin-san's keyboard could be heard from the other office. The doctor must have been waiting for me to say something, but I kept my eyes averted. What an uncomfortable situation...

I'm actually going to have to go through with this? An agitated sigh escaped me as I lifted my face from the enigma of the desk and gave Dr. Hughes my attention. Notebook at the ready, he seemed eager to diagnose my every flaw.

"Now that Naru is gone, do you have any _real_ questions, Taniyama-san? We're now within the realm of doctor-patient confidentiality, and I've discouraged him from 'forgetting' a microphone in his office, so if there's anything you're concerned about..." Okay, maybe he wasn't so bad. Any _real_ questions? I could ask anything? Hmm.

"How do you know Naru, even?" It did seem strange for my boss to be able to bring in a foreign shrink with very little notice.

"I've worked with his father on a few occasions-" _Naru's father?_ -"and of course, met his son. That was some time ago, but he- Naru, that is, seems very much the same as he was two years ago."

"So... You know what Naru, Lin-san and I do here at SPR? You know that we... hunt... ghosts?" I fidgeted through the entire phrase. There was no way to sugar coat it. Dr. Hughes sat straight up.

"I know what 'Shibuya Psychic Research' does, yes, and I know that my dear friend's son is having difficulties with an assistant-investigator who appears to have trouble sleeping. I've worked with psychics before, they're usually usually trauma or stress patients. I've worked with plain old sleeping disorders before, but never with a psychic. Insomnia is my area of expertise as an ESRS member; I've had more than a few patients with insomnia over the years, but this will be my first chance to work with one who's psychic. That is- assuming you do indeed have a sleeping disorder. That's yet to be determined," He mused. I perked up: maybe he wouldn't think I was crazy!

"I'm not really psychic- more latent."

The doctor opened his notebook to a page somewhere in the middle and skimmed it. "Well, I heard you've had a myriad of pre-cognitive and post-cognitive dreams?" I nodded. "There's a few more erm- talents, your boss has mentioned, but the dreams alone point to a psychic. Out of body experiences, for instance, were mentioned along with cleansing a spirit- a medium's talent- but that's overkill. We're going to focus on sleep. If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been having psychic dreams?"

"Mm... around the time I started working for Naru." It didn't escape my notice that he jotted a few words down on that middle page. My anxiety returned full force after being calmed somewhat by Dr. Hughes' complete understanding of SPR. How much does this man need to know to help me? Obviously, I didn't want to let it slip that my problem is somehow related to dreams I have that include_ Naru, _and how the more considerate aspect of his personality is gradually being shut out of my dream plane-psychic plane, whatever. I made yet another mental note to casually ask Naru, or maybe Lin-san, about that whole thing.

"Do you have these types of dreams often?" I tore my eyes from the older man's scrawling hand to look at his face. Pale skin gave way to soft wrinkles: he's seen a lot in his life, and every detail remained etched on his face.

"Well, hm. Yes and no. Usually, I have them when I'm working. I've been working a lot lately, so before my sleeping habits got all warped, I was having psychic dreams nearly every case. It started off really slow, though, and at first they were really more just Na-nevermind. My boss likes to give me a hard time about always sleeping on the job, but Bou-san and the others think it's the best way I can help out on a case. I have a log of psychic dreams I've had over our cases- well, actually Lin-san has it in SPR's database. You know- where we keep copies of our reports, things that happen while working, and so on..." I was rambling. Across from me, green eyes lit up.

"Oh, excellent! So, every psychic dream is in this log? I'll have to take a peek if Lin permits. Yes, just wonderful. Well, continuing," he sniffed. "I understand that it's been around two and a half months since this all began?" _WHAT?_ That many weeks ago was what- July? By the beguiled look on my face, he knew I was completely lost. "Yes, it's not uncommon for someone to lose track of time when something like this happens. On average, how many hours a night do you sleep?"

"...It started with trouble falling asleep; I'd get five or six hours a night. These days, one or two nights a week I don't sleep at all, and the rest are usually in the 4-5 hour range." Green eyes darkened; the doctor frowned and leaned back into his cozy armchair.

"Chronic insomnia. Do you have any health conditions? Substance abuse problems? Depression? Stress?" I shook my head as he prattled on, but thought a little before shaking at 'stress.' Everyone goes through stress: just because I'm a teenager living alone, depending on this job to support myself doesn't mean I'm pulling my hair out. I've always handled stress pretty well, I think.

"...Is something really wrong with me?" I had to ask. Squeamish, I looked down to my shoes.

"Do you _believe_ something is really wrong?" I glanced back up in a flash, irritated.

"Well, you're the doctor, aren't you? You're supposed to know these things! I don't see why we would be wasting our time like this-" I stood and looked out Naru's window; Anger blossomed inside me. Anger at this man, my stupid boss who brought him here, and whatever was wrong with my head that brought them to conspire against me. How I wished to be one of the leaves in that day's high wind.

"You're the medium aren't you? The more I think about it, the more I doubt this is medical. Stress could be a factor, yes, but if it's work-related then it would be more psychic than medical. Think for a moment, close your eyes and see if you get a feeling. Try and read yourself."

I scoffed, but cooled my temper. Plopping back down in Naru's chair, I gave it a shot. With my eyes closed and my breathing slowed, I tried to tune my senses to nothing beyond my own body. It seemed to come to me naturally: just like falling asleep should, only I was awake. Soon, the distant keyboard noises disappeared and silence prevailed over my personal darkness. As I inhaled, a sharp pang emerged in the pit of my stomach and surged up through my abdomen. I tried to decipher it: a burning sensation, like touching a hot kettle, yet a sickening one, like thinking there's one more stair as you descend. It was definitely not anything I'd felt in real life. A hollow, distant pain that felt completely false, yet throbbed all the way to my fingertips. My lungs ached the most in this fire, and I gasped slightly as I exhaled.

Pain is your body's way of telling you something is wrong- this pain- this doesn't exist. It is my intuition.

"Well?" My eyes shot open.

"You're right. It's not medical. My intuition says it's not." I marveled at my accomplishment: it wasn't easy for me to focus on things, but I had just shut out the world to listen to my intuition clearly. "I should do that more often." Dr. Hughes smiled and sat up, seemingly refreshed.

"Alright- think back. Do you remember anything that may have triggered your insomnia?"

"No- not really." I didn't want to divulge anything about "the red necklace" file or my dream guide's theories, so I gave a partial truth. "I'm not really sure what started this, or when it started, I just remember I had a nightmare."

"A nightmare-? What happened in this-" That writing hand moved furiously across paper again, I swear I heard it tear the sheet.

"That's the problem- I don't remember. Typically, I remember my dreams, but on this one I draw a blank. Every time I think about it, I-I can't."

"Hmm. Repressed dream? Interesting. Well, our time for today is nearly up. I'm thinking that if you use whatever technique you just employed to listen to your intuition -but while concentrating on that repressed dream- you might be able to uncover it. If you want to, that is." He smiled and shut his notebook. "I think we've had a good first session, don't you? We know this isn't medical, but that doesn't mean that if it gets worse from this point you won't have to have actual medical treatment for it."

"What do you mean- what kind of treatment- if it gets worse?" Though I didn't want to consider being _medicated_ for this, I had to at least know what kind of drugs he was talking about.

"Well, sleeping pills. A short term prescription, of course- there are many risks associated with sleeping pills. But, if after a few sessions we can't unravel this, we may have to give them a try. One thing's certain, you and I are going to be seeing each other at least once a week for a while, until this situation improves," The foreign man stood and stretched his arms, "Well, do you have any further questions?" Actually, there was something I was curious about...

"Dr. Hughes, where are you from? You're part of the ES, ERS something?" My finger roamed to my bottom lip: a classic Taniyama Mai thinking pose, yet the acronym I searched for didn't come to me.

"I'm half French, half English, but I'm from London. I think you mean ESRS, that is- European Sleep Research Society. I'm probably the only member that associates with paranormal investigators."

"Ah~" I smiled, "So, then, would you prefer being Hughes-san, Dr. Hughes, Doc, Mr. Hughes, what?" He immediately brightened, as if the question itself made his day, no, his week.

"Funny you should ask! Doc's fine- or Hughes-san, if you'd prefer to use a more traditional style. And you? Would you want to stick with Taniyama-san, or perhaps Mai-chan? There's Miss Taniyama, Mademoiselle Taniyama, and probably a few other titles I could come up with, surname or first."

"Hmm- Well, I'd like to take you up on that last exotic-sounding one,"

"Mademoiselle?"

"Yeah! That!" I beamed at him: he was good company for a shrink. "Or else Mai-chan will do just fine." With that, we shook hands (how strange- not bowing!) and he went on his way, leaving me alone in Naru's office. Temptation nibbled my earlobes; tingled in my toes: I had to explore while I had the chance. The top drawer of Naru's desk was locked, disappointed, I tried the next one down.

Success! Inside were several books, all in English, a mirror, of course, and a few post-it's with what I assumed to be Naru's handwriting displayed all over them. Notes on _something_- and a lot of them. Some were looking pretty weathered: the sticky stuff had been completely rubbed off the back of a few. At that moment, I wished I could understand more than basic English. I read a few words -"the" -"an" -"lake" -"she" -"he" and the like, but found not one sentence I could understand completely.

_Why doesn't Naru seem to use kanji** at all**?_ Who knew what tidbits of information about Naru and Lin-san were on those post-its. If only I'd had the language skills to interpret them... Maybe that's why Naru has been taking so damn many cases: If he keeps me out of school, I won't be smart enough to snoop properly. I'll be smart enough to make tea, nothing more.

Irritated at myself, I pushed the notes off the the side and lifted the book beneath them. Under it was a pile of maps. Hmm.

Suddenly, footsteps sounded closer and closer to the the door. I shoved everything in order as best as I could, closed the offending drawer (how dare it tempt me like that) and threw my feet up on Naru's desk. Trying to keep casual, of course.

When he appeared in the doorway, I assumed he would scold me for having my feet on his precious desk, or lingering once Doc had left, but no. For a moment, he just stood there in the door frame, looking at me. Assessing me, more like. It was more than a little uncomfortable, and heatwaves rose to my face against my will. I looked down to make sure my skirt wasn't hiked weird since my feet were up, or that I'd left something from the drawer on his desk, but no. Everything seemed in perfect order. Yet, I looked back up and into that searching gaze again. An uncomfortable urge to speak washed over me and I acted on it.

"Ne- You have a really comfy chair. I see why you never leave this room..." The glare I received was one that, logically, should have been followed by a thorough rant, Naru-style, but he merely turned and walked back towards the lounge.

"Let's go, Mai. You have a visitor."

* * *

To answer a couple questions: the two planes, dream and psychic, aren't a theory I researched or anything... Or at least I don't think they're a real theory. That would be pretty cool if they were, but in my story they are _someone's_ theory, which will be made clear when Mai finally mans up enough to ask Naru ("a researcher") like she was told to do.

I hope I'm doing the Doc right- I've never seen anyone for insomnia, so I don't know how to go about it. But Mai is quite different from a regular patient in that she's psychic, so maybe it's not too off.

This has probably been the longest break I've taken since I started IOTWCS! Geez!

Well, as for YOU, yeah **YOU** reading this- I'm much obliged. (: And compelled to tell you I didn't edit it very closely, sorry!  
And please, take the time to review! If you see something wrong, lemme know. I've had some seriously lovely reviews so far, and they've been inspiring. Merci beaucoup, many thanks.

x. thief


	10. Failure

_A visitor?_

"Ah- Hello, Taniyama-san!" A bright voice assaulted me._  
_

Splayed comfortably on SPR's sofa was a young man_. _By most accounts, he would be considered handsome with his warm, chocolate eyes and tastefully choppy haircut. If this had been a visit by some random good-looking guy, that would have been fine by me, but unfortunately I knew him.

Yamada Ayumu_, _class know-it-all, smiled up at me next to a large, dark green binder of what I assumed to be schoolwork. My neglected schoolwork. Naru typically disdained visitors; I looked to my young boss in time to see a smirk forming. No doubt this was the kind of visit he actually enjoyed: one that further asserted the belief that his assistant was an idiot. If my internal groan chose to vocalize itself, I didn't care. I slouched into the unoccupied couch and gave both teenage boys the darkest looks I could muster.

"Yamada-san," I started, "Keiko or Michiru drop off my schoolwork when I leave early." Naru sat down next to Yamada-san, giving me the impression they were ganging up on me. I also couldn't help but compare the looks of the two: Naru definitely hogged that spotlight. As soon as such an inappropriate train of thought began, I derailed it with a shake of the head.

"Well- erm, Sensei cornered me after class, you see," Yamada-san muttered, apologetic look intact, "he's worried about your academic progress. As a second year, you should be devoting yourself more to schoolwork, and if you wanted to go to university- well, the entrance exams would crush you. Here-" he handed me the binder. "Kouno-sensei put together review materials for his class and your other classes, it seems your other teachers were fine with the idea, and he thought that, well, you might like a tutor." He smiled brightly.

"T-that's okay. I think I'll manage. Thank you for the offer and the binder, Yamada-san. I should be getting back to work-" I set the green binder roughly on the coffee table and a few miscellaneous papers fell out.

"Mai means she will consider your offer," Naru stated, coolly. I scoffed in objection; lack of energy kept me from exploding at him. The _nerve_ of that man, honestly... "Now, I understand there was another reason you chose to deliver Mai's review materials yourself."

"Yes, well- my family recently purchased a new apartment. We were supposed to have moved in last weekend, but things are... not right, there." Yamada-san came to us with a case? That was just what I needed. After a long day of school, the stressful ordeal of seeing a shrink, and being proved stupid in front of Naru by Yamada-san, I'd had enough. I rose and scurried over to the only safe place in the office- the kitchenette. Teenage voices droned on in the lounge; I drowned them out.

I couldn't make the decision to get help for my insomnia. It also seemed I lacked the authority to choose whether or not I would have a tutor. A certain gleam in my boss's eye told me I'd probably have to start seeing the shrink and a tutor on a very regular basis.

Fuming at Naru, Kouno-sensei, Yamada Ayumu, and everyone who'd vaguely wronged me that day, I appraised the kettle with a hostile eye: what a perfect weapon it'd make when hot. The mental image made me smile. With an oven mitt, a _whimsical_ oven mitt, I could take them all out without burning myself-

"Taniyama-san?" An unexpected voice jilted me from my fantasy- a voice I never encountered in the kitchenette. Lin-san stood in the entryway, hunched somewhat due to his height. I'd need stilts to see eye to eye with Lin-san, and he rarely spoke to me. He'd never left the safety of his office to come speak to me before, it unnerved me a little. What a weird day~

"Lin-san?" I pointed to my weapon, "Did you want tea?"

"No, thank you. I need to speak with you in my office when you're done." With that, he left. I blinked. What the hell could Lin-san want to talk to me about? Finishing my tea-making process, I dropped two cups off in the lounge for Naru and that other boy, while bringing one for myself to Lin-san's office.

While Naru's office contained a library of paranormal books, Lin-san's was obviously meant to be nothing more than an archive room. Similar shelves to the ones we brought on cases lined Lin-san's walls, and on them sat tapes, monitors, tapes and more tapes. In one corner, SPR's recording equipment sat, neatly stacked. Monitors dominated one full wall, not hooked up to anything, but too bulky to be put in storage. SPR really ought to upgrade to flat screens. Lin-san's desk blended well with the wall of monitors, and the familiar glow of a laptop lit the Chinese man's face. He motioned for me to sit in a swivel chair similar to his.

"I have some questions about your dream logs from the past few cases..." Shit! I forgot to e-mail the one from Takata-san's case _again_.

"Sorry, Lin-san- I keep forgetting to send you that last one. I just have to put a few finishing details on it; I'll send it soon." Lin-san nodded and thanked me.

"That's not the main reason I called you in. There are a few inconsistencies in the past fifteen logs or so."

"Inconsistencies? I wrote every detail I could remember..."

"There are certain details that have nothing to do with the rest of a particular dream, or the case itself, even. They seem random when looked at as isolated cases, but once I started looking for them, I found a surprising number of them. They seem to have some sort of connection, not to the cases, but to themselves."

My face burned bright red. I didn't recall anything like that happening. Lin-san opened a file on his laptop and shifted the thin monitor so we could both read.

"This case was the first one to have an inconsistency."

* * *

**Dream log: August 14**

**Recorded: August 15-16**

**Client: Inoue Shinju**

** Fell asleep after talking to the client's husband; dream onset immediately. The house was shown to be much newer, meaning the dream had to have been showing a time at least seventy years ago. Inoue-san's grandfather and one of his sons argued, while another (much younger) son listened from the doorway. The fight was about the eldest son's choice of bride: the father disapproved as she was from a poor family. As the fight became more heated, it was obvious both men were not thinking grandfather stabbed his eldest son during his rage, and jumped off the roof, taking his own life in grief. The son that watched fled, and I followed him, when he disappeared and I found myself in a field. The house was nowhere in sight, and I seemed to be the only person around. Sakura petals began to fall from the sky, yet there were no trees near to drop petals, and no wind to carry them. As I thought more on the origin of the petals, they began to shift shape. Small red water droplets rained down from a blue sky instead of flowers. Blood, I soon realized. I watched the grandfather's body fall from the roof again, and realized he was the spirit that hadn't moved on. If we could get him to accept his actions, and move on with his son, he could be cleansed, but I doubt it will work with that rage. As the ghost is causing violent behavior in Inoue-san's family, a quick exorcism would be best.**

**x.  
**

**

* * *

**

I saw what Lin-san meant. Indeed, I remembered nothing of a field of sakura petals turned blood, not even typing up that description. Seemingly, the image came out of nowhere. I must have forgotten all about it. Reading through the paragraph one more time, I tried to picture the dream again, and found myself unable. Furrowing my eyebrows, I looked back to Lin-san.

"I have no idea where it came from. I don't remember the random part, or the dream at all now that I look back. It's like it never happened. Yet, I know it did. We used that dream to figure out who the ghost was... it was hiding from Masako..." I racked my brain for any information it held about that case. "It didn't want to be cleansed- it wanted to wreak havoc in the family; cause fights. John had to exorcise it. I remember the case details a little, but my dream's gone." I sipped my green tea and it helped cure some of my distressed nerves. My memory was failing me.

"I see. Thank you, Taniyama-san." Dismissal already?

"Really? You don't have any more questions for me," I moved to the door and pressed my ear to it. Yes, Naru and Yamada-san were still talking. No way in hell I wanted to join them. "There's nothing I can help out with-?" I swear, the look Lin-san gave me qualified as a smile. It was strange to see Lin-san smile.

"You dislike your classmate?"

"Caught me~ He's kind of like Yasuhara, only this one isn't as endearing. Just annoying. And the pair of them- Naru and Yamada-san... Well." An explosion sound effect would have said it all, but as Lin-san was actually talking to me about a matter not directly related to work, I didn't want to risk it by being silly. If I did, he could send me back out to the wolves. I suffered an internal cringe at the thought.

"Actually- I was trying to find this tape earlier..." Lin-san gave me a date and number of one elusive tape and I began scouring the shelves as he typed away on his laptop. I was tempted to ask what he was always doing typing up a storm, but held my tongue. Suddenly, I remembered that more important questions needed answers.

"L-Lin-san?"

"Did you find it?"

"Not yet. Uhm- I was wondering, do you know anything about psychic planes?" Immediately, Lin-san froze. "Li-"

"Where did you hear that term?" He sounded confused, and more than a little defensive. He knew something.

"What?"

"Where. Did. You. Hear... That term? Who told you?" His voice was near a whisper, and it sounded dangerous coming from Lin-san. I stood, hesitant. Should I just leave without saying anything? I wrote nothing about my dream Naru in the logs that went to Lin-san. The only records of my guide were in "the red necklace" file. If I told him now about a dream guide, no doubt he'd be suspicious.

"N-never mind. Sorry to bother you with this, Lin-san, I think I need to make more tea, excu-" Lin-san turned back to his laptop, composure regained.

"...If you want to know anything, why not ask Naru? He'll tell you anything you need to know." The older man's softened voice was not unkind.

"Thank you, Lin-san." The door closed firmly behind me as I reentered the lounge. Naru, his notebook, and my classmate occupied the sofa still, and I ignored them all the way to my sorry excuse for a desk. If Naru wanted to insult me, he could do it from across the room. I didn't care, but I needed to get in his good graces sometime soon. Enough, at least, to ask him a very important question.

What's more, it looked like Naru considered taking Yamada-san's case.

"What a long day..."

* * *

Shorter than the past few chapters, but I liked writing it~ I'm trying to plug away at this story while the fire's hot. That, plus I'm job searching currently and when I score one I'll be lacking in free time.

Q&A: About "Dream Naru"...  
- Mai will probably discover something, but Lin-san and Naru will not help her, though they will both find out. I'm not divulging my master plan, here, you'll have to read it as it unfolds! :D

About story's timeline...  
- Though I've read the manga, and every part of the novel that's on Baka-Tsuki, If Only Tonight We Could Sleep occurs after the end of the anime.

**Any more questions, ask away! +Criticism needed, still+**  
**Thanks for reading- review if you've the time, s'il vous plaît! :D**

x. thief


	11. Circle Games

The sun completed its western journey as Yamada-san finally left the office. During that time, I'd made six batches of tea. Those six kettles were drained by super-human teenagers, Shibuya Kazuya and Taniyama Mai. Months ago, I scorned the amount of caffeine it took to fuel one Naru throughout the day, but now found myself on an equal level. He really was a bad influence. He was in the lounge absorbing the notes he'd taken while finishing the last cup from kettle number six as I left my corner desk. I had to approach him now -no witnesses- and ask him about the things he said in my dream. But how? I took a seat cautiously in the open sofa across from Naru.

"Did you need something?" His eyes didn't stray from his notes for a moment. Drumming my fingers on the coffee table, I thought over how best to ask him. Interrupting was akin to murder in terms of sinfulness while Naru was reading. Maybe if I left myself open for insults, he'd forgive my interruption... Making silly Mai mad always seems to cheer him up.

"N-Naru? Can I ask you something?"

The young man's eyebrow raised of its own accord, "Obviously." Bad sign- that was hardly a shot at me. If he couldn't take the time to insult me properly, he was probably too absorbed to help me.

"Can we replace the office's tea supply with coffee? Black tea can only provide so much caffeine, and its obvious you and I need superior caffeine to blood ratios to function. We should throw the tea out and buy more coffee from now on."

"That's ludicrous, Mai." Still, he didn't look up.

"Light roast or dark, Naru?" That got his attention. With a snap of the wrist, he dropped his notes on the coffee table and glared up at me; my smile grew.

"You know I dislike coffee. You can gorge yourself on coffee: that's your decision, but this office will always have tea stocked." Eyes narrowed, he continued, "I don't think much of your intelligence, Mai, but I believe you know better than to suggest such things. What is it that you want?"

Nervous laughter trickled from me as I suddenly became fascinated by the stitching on my uniform's skirt. "I was wondering if-uhm, you knew what dream and psychic planes were...?" My voice rose slightly at the end: I had the distinct feeling I was asking something Naru wouldn't want to answer. My phrase met with silence. Chancing a look up at my boss's face, his shocked expression was foreign to me. Rarely does one ever see him surprised. "And, if you would explain them to your otherwise hopelessly ignorant assistant...?"

"Where did you hear that phrase?" Naru all but mimicked Lin-san's earlier reaction, and it was a little tiring. If only someone would just answer my question! I sighed and stood, it was nearly time for me to leave work, anyways.

"There's a theory, though most of it is speculation." Naru's voice had regained its confidence; I heard a throat clear and my boss began what was likely to be a long and informative speech. I sat right back down. "There's a theory on the development of psychic abilities, and what makes their users different from people with no spirit sensitivity. This theory introduced the idea of "psychic planes" or "spirit planes," a part of the mind and spirit that can be open to other spirits. _Which_ part of the mind and spirit it actually is remains a mystery: this area of research is relatively obscure. Any living thing is said to have a psychic plane, and all of these planes can be accessed by psychics. This area contains what you would call your "intuition," unconscious psychic knowledge. Spirits posses people by occupying their psychic planes, and from there are able to control physical bodies, though contact with the person's body is required. The rest of a possessed person's spirit dwells in their dream plane until the intruder has been exorcised. Users of PK have energy stores here that can be accessed. Spiritually sensitive people, unlike regular people, are aware of these planes' existence, subconsciously, and that is what gives them the ability to interact with spirits, among other paranormal gifts. Are you with me still, Mai?"

Somewhat confused, I nodded. A part of the mind and spirit of all living things. Still unknown. Open to other spirits. Mediums are aware of them. My intuition.

"Dream planes are similar, but different. They are the bridge that connects the psychic plane and a person's conscious self; an uncrossable bridge. While asleep, people are more open to spiritual activity. Mediums can't make a decision to actually enter their psychic planes, because those areas of the mind can't be accessed by anything but spirits. If a medium wishes to put themselves in a trance to make contact with a difficult spirit, they enter their dream plane. Astral projections are possible due to these: a person projects their spirit entirely onto their dream plane, and are able to detach it from their body. Dream planes also make pre- and post-cognitive dreams possible by showing bits of information available from a person's "intuition," or by piecing together memories or thoughts of another spirit making contact through their spirit plane."

I blinked. He should write a book for these types of things, that was too much information to digest in one sitting. "That... makes sense. I think." Naru reached for my green binder and freed a sheet of paper from it.

"Hey- that's mine, Naru- what are you doing?" I watched as he took a pen from his pocket and started drawing a diagram. A circle? Two circles, one of which dominated the page while the other stayed tiny and unobtrusive in the page's corner. He pointed at the big circle and resumed his rant. _Are you kidding me?_

"Mai. This circle is my mind," He smirked, then pointed to the tiny circle in the corner. "And this is yours."

"Oh, how kind to include me, Naru-" I raised my fist and grit my teeth at my intolerable boss. He drew a smaller circle on the side of his "mind," like a Venn diagram, and shaded the area where the two overlapped.

"Consider the other circle my psychic plane; I store energy there, which you've seen me use once before. This overlap is my dream plane," Naru drew a tiny circle to overlap my tiny mind in the corner, "Now you have one too."

"What's the point of this, other than to showcase my pathetic excuse for a mind?" I seethed at him. A smirk graced his lips and he drew several small circles around the page.

"These are spirits that haven't moved on," he drew an arrow from one of the 'spirits' into the circle that was supposed to represent my psychic plane. "Because you're a medium, however weak, your psychic plane leaves itself open to spirits. Not to say it leaves itself fully open to possession- that requires the person's physical body to come near a spirit. Information exchanges between spirits and mediums can happen at some length, but it's never been calculated." he pointed once more at the tiny circle next to my mind. "Your psychic plane accepts information that the spirit chooses to send. That information is accessed while you sleep, by entering your dream plane."

"I get that, I didn't really need a diagram. But- can spirits wreak havoc in a person's psychic plane even if they aren't possessing a person's body? Can a person be harmed from something in their psychic plane?" My boss folded the diagram and handed it to me, probably for me to reference if I forgot anything. It was degrading in a way, but at least it wasn't labeled or anything. As if I needed to feel any more like a child.

"I'm not exactly sure- like I said, this area of research is obscure. There was only one person who dealt with this area, and his theory is the only one." Wait- one person?

"Who came up with this theory?" Naru paused before answering, as if contemplating whether or not I needed to know. I felt I needed to know and pleaded, "Maybe I can talk to him- He'll know more, won't he?"

At that, my boss froze again. A deadened look came over him, and he responded blandly, "That would not be possible." I shrunk back a little.

"Oh. Can you at least tell me who it was?" The teenage boy looked towards the window; at the darkening sky.

"It was an English medium, Eugene Davis-" He began

"Eh? Davis? That guy Bou-san is obsessed with?" Naru looked back at me with cold eyes. No doubt this conversation would soon be over.

"Close, but no. That would be Oliver Davis. Eugene was his brother, but Oliver was the scientist. Eugene worked mostly as a medium; this theory was his only area of research, and he never even finished or published it. That's beside the point, I think you've learned enough today. At least, that's all I know about this matter."

"Okay. Thank you, Naru." He'd given me more information than I had hoped for. I smiled and stood once more, this time to head back to the kitchenette for one last round of tea. Naru's voice stopped me again.

"You didn't say where you heard the term." I turned to look at him: he sat stiff, expectant. He'd done me a favor in explaining things to me, and expected an answer in return. I could do that.

"I heard it in a dream." A thoughtful look crossed his face.

"A dream...?" The bell above SPR's door rand loudly, and we both turned to see who would drop in right at the end of business hours. A petite figure emerged from behind the screen, and the teenage girl, clad in a kimono, walked gracefully towards us while I stood, confused.

"Oh! Masako, what a surprise. I didn't think you were done filming yet," I mused as she came closer.

"We finished early, but I only got done working an hour or so ago. It's nice to see you, Naru... Mai..." Masako and I tried hard to be on our best behavior, even if we couldn't stand each other sometimes, I liked to think we got along fairly well.

"Good evening, Hara-san." Naru was polite, but distant, and was already eying the notes laid out on the coffee table before him. Masako glanced at Naru for some time, before turning back to me.

"Mai. Is it true you've been having trouble sleeping?"

Shooting Naru a venomous look, I exclaimed loudly, "What- does _everyone_ know? Yeah, so I can't sleep well, and _YES,_ I don't dream that much anymore, but really it's not that big of a deal. I don't see why suddenly _everyone_ feels the need to know about it or try and do something about it!" The medium frowned, kimono covering her mouth.

"But, Mai, it is a big deal." While she said it in a serene voice, I was left with the impression that Masako was worried. Suddenly, she turned back to my boss.

"Naru, as this is my first night back in Tokyo for a while, I was wondering if perhaps you'd like to go to dinner? There's this new place that just opened last weekend..." Naru sighed and gave a long look at the notes before him before saying something about getting his coat and leaving the room. I don't know how Masako always did it, but Naru seemed firmly under her control. As I thought, Masako pulled out a small, red package and held it out to me.

"Here. This may help you feel better about sleeping, or dreaming." Skeptical, I accepted. She smiled, "Open it."

I pulled the white ribbon off at tore the crimson paper gently, revealing a delicately carved wooden box. Carvings of wolves and spiders covered the entire lid, it was truly beautiful. I opened the box, and inside lay a strange, blue circle thing. Blue and white feathers hung from the bottom of it, adorned with white beads at their tops. The inside of the circle was filled with an ornate web, with two blue beads in the innermost coils.

"It's a dream catcher." Masako smiled, bringing her sleeve up to her face again. "I picked it up as a souvenir in the states when I visited sacred Native American sites. While they're originally from one Native American tribe, they are somewhat commercialized nowadays. This one was made for me by an Ojibwe friend I made on my trip. You're welcome to have it, if it helps. Hang it above you when you go to sleep, it's supposed to allow only good dreams through. I'm not sure if it will work, I've never tried it, but they're supposed to be for children, and, well..."

"I am pretty childish." I smiled warmly at Masako. "Thank you very much." As a certain dark young man reentered the lounge, coat in hand, I held the little package behind my back.

"You're free to go, Mai. Lin will close the office soon." Watching Naru leave with Masako wasn't as irritating as it usually was. I'd seen her come-a-calling a few times, and she usually treated me as a rival on those occasions, but she was more than civil today. I considered our score settled.

* * *

Trudging up one final flight of stairs, I watched a few of the apartment complex's lights flickered softly. If I hadn't been so tired, I would have been creeped out. Number 309 unlocked smoothly as always, but I was anything but smooth as something outside my door tripped me as I entered my apartment. I was thankful for two things: No one was around, and I didn't fall flat on my face. A box? I walked gingerly on my foot, checking to see if it was alright before picking up the antagonistic box. It was lighter than I thought it would be for tripping me up, and it wasn't all that large. 'Taniyama Mai' was written clearly on top, but with no address or postage of any sort across the brown paper.

Obviously, someone had just left it at my door. Carrying it inside and locking the door behind me, I shook it somewhat to get a feel for its contents. The box made no sound. Curiosity overtook me, and I opened it to find a wealth of packing peanuts and- bricks?

"What the hell?" I muttered aloud as I dug out packing peanuts and bricks alike, until I found a smaller box inside. Weirder and weirder. A note, taped to the small box, explained a little:

** Mai! I'm going on tour!  
Be back soon, hopefully.  
We're all worried about you.  
If you need your Bou-san, text him!**

** X.  
**

Text him? But I didn't have a cell-

Inside the small box lay a tiny, beautiful, cellular phone. Such a shiny thing, its pink cover seemed to glisten softly in the apartment's unflattering light. It wasn't a fancy touch screen phone or anything, but it was _new_, and definitely higher class than my land line. Picking it up carefully, I touched a small, circular button. The phone was already on, for it brought up a menu.

**NEW TEXT MESSAGES (3)**

Bou-san got me a working cell phone? It was hard to navigate at first, but I quickly got the hang of it. Checking the address book, I noticed it came complete with important numbers. Besides the monk and Ayako, I now had Masako and John's cell numbers, too. I found SPR's office number and even Lin-san and Yasuhara-san's cell phone numbers as well. How did Bou-san do all this? Completely overwhelmed, I checked the three text messages. All of them were from the monk, inquiring about my finding his gift. After replying, I threw out the boxes, the packing peanuts, and the bricks. I'd have to thank him and ask him why the hell he did that later. Today was too much for me, and I needed sleep. Pronto.

Not bothering to make tea, put my school things away, or grab a bite to eat, I marched straight to my bedroom. Leaving the two gifts I'd received unattended on my dresser, I quickly changed out of my school uniform and into my usual shorts and tank top combo.

The long Tuesday ended as I curled up peacefully on my futon, happily surrendering to my fatigue.

* * *

Seems like it was dote on Mai day in IOTWCS... Well, a bunch of worried people will do strange things. Well, well. Yeah it was a reeeeeeally long Tuesday. We're moving right along, now! So many things a-happenin'! And Mai finally manned up and asked Naru certain things- only to open up more questions! What conclusions will Mai and Naru come to?

I need to sleep more and drink less coffee, geez. Do you guys know how many cups of coffee fit in a typical "coffee bowl"? Because my daily average is 3-4 coffee bowls, and something is telling me there's something unhealthy there. Also, my brother started watching Ghost Hunt. I got a call today- my brother, shouting "NARU AND LIN ELOPED," then hanging up. Swell. Anyways:

**Many thanks for the read~ reviews are lovely. (S'il vous plaît :D) **

**x. thief**


	12. Making Waves

**Soft crimson light shone over a wide shore. The sea? What a dazzling sunset. I couldn't remember the last time I'd visited the ocean. Oh, wait. That was during a case with SPR; a case that earned my boss a stay in the hospital. Somehow, the sea doesn't look that appealing anymore. However, there was something so enchanting about that sunset. I couldn't move to leave if I tried. Mesmerized, I stood gazing out over the sand. Footsteps crunched over sand to my left, and I tore my eyes from the waves to face a certain person.**

**"Aren't you glad we came to the ocean today, Mai?" Okaa-san smiled down at me, blissful at the family moment. A brisk wind blew my choppy hair every which way, but it seemed particularly attracted to my eyes. Once every few moments I brushed the strands away, but they continued their assault on my eyes. Wait- While okaa-san was alive, my hair was longer. I could have tied it back to prevent this. I glanced down at my body. Yes- I was definitely older than I had been when my mother died. Of course, it's been a few years since she died.**

**"I'm dreaming? Is this a normal one?" My feet unglued themselves from the sand and I scrambled closer to the petite woman. She'd never been that tall; I would probably grow enough to be bigger than her in my lifetime. My mother's amber eyes narrowed and she pointed back towards the waves.**

**"You've lost something, dear." My typically cheerful okaa-san's voice sounded dark. I followed her gesture to the shore and peered out. There was nothing but water. Not even driftwood. "At your feet, Mai." A thin silver chain lay half-buried in the sand. The red pendant. "Can you get that for me, Mai?"**

**My body tensed instantly, and I backed away from the sinister object and my 'mother.' Something was not right. That was the same pendant Naru warned me about. I looked back up at the woman, noting the uncharacteristic pout she wore. I made the connection immediately.  
**

**"Why is there an imitation okaa-san in my dream? And why the hell is that thing so important?" I pointed to the necklace and stepped further back. "Where is Naru?" Okaa-san gave me a look of disgust before turning heel and walking away. "Hey! Who are you?"**

I rolled into an uncomfortable angle and my eyes shot open. Great- another question-filled dream that, once again, I was ill-equipped to understand.

**

* * *

**The school day passed quickly, though not with ease. Yamada-san had given me review materials specifically to help me pass my classes- and I didn't even bother to open the binder. I vowed to work harder on my decision-making and time management skills. However, due to my laziness I'd bagged eight hours of sleep Tuesday night. _Eight_. It was a gift, and I felt more than grateful. For the first time in a long time, I'd dozed off immediately after work- so, sometime around 8:30 PM. _Early_. Just because I'd slept well didn't mean I skipped my morning caffeine, though. For the first time in a long time, I felt alive. Early in the morning, I'd even decided to bring my laptop to school and work to plug away at my 'red necklace' dream log.

Even Keiko and Michiru seemed to notice a difference in me: I was livelier and they were joking and talking to me more frequently that Wednesday morning; it seemed as though my insomnia had hurt our friendship for some time without my notice. Yamada-san had attempted conversation with me a handful of times, but found me unresponsive. I wasn't fond of speaking to him. While he was smart and good-looking, there was something about his personality that repelled me. No doubt I'd have to deal with him sooner or later, though.

As the train completed its usual journey to Shibuya, I flipped through the green binder. I couldn't have Naru forcing me to see a tutor _and_ a shrink. My heart sank as I noticed certain bits of information in the math and science compartments that I had no idea about. I decided that, after studying more, if there was anything I really couldn't understand I'd just ask Yasuhara-san. No doubt he'd enjoy my recognition of his intellect. Stepping out into the street and finding my way to the office, I shoved the binder away and took out the sleek little cell phone Bou-san had given me. I'd been responsible and shut it off while I was at school, but couldn't bring myself to do the same at work.

I had made note of my school friends' cell numbers, though, and planned to text them while Naru and Lin-san weren't looking. A light, cool wind fluttered my skirt and a look to the sky showed yet another storm brewing. That morning, I hadn't considered the idea of rain: my umbrella sat snug in my closet. I pressed the 'on' button on the top of my phone. Sighing, I glared at the cloud-darkened sky and trudged into the office.

An empty lounge greeted me, and I was grateful. There'd been too many people in the office yesterday, and it seemed like every one of them had been out to get me. I shook the thought away and plastered a smile on. I'd _slept_ last night. I was energized and damn well ready to enjoy it. Once tea had been made and delivered to my solemn co-worker and cold boss (I rarely bothered to ask them if they wanted tea, lately. I just gave it to them anyways), I sipped a cup and read through my 'red necklace' file again, trying to find any details that could be pieced together.

The color red was an obvious recurring theme, but I couldn't decide what it meant. Was it for the blood, or the necklace? Or was everything tied together. And, Naru- what about him?

"Come back and help me figure this out..." I sighed and closed the file. More information was needed to fill in the gaps. For something to do, I started snooping through my real dream log, the one Lin-san had a copy of.

_**Cloud to ground, strike like lightning- Baby, don't you meddle-**_ a punk rock song rang out from nowhere, seemingly, and jumped me from my thoughts. What the hell? Bou-san's band? Oh- a ring tone! The cell phone! I grabbed it from my bag and pressed the little green button that accepted calls. Hopefully, Naru and Lin-san didn't hear that burst of music and bust me slacking off on my new phone.

"Hello?"

"Mai~ Did you make it to work alright?" I was relieved to hear the crazy monk's voice. Phone nestled against my shoulder, I continued exploring random entries in the log, looking for weird or unnecessary bits of information. Skimming them, I gave Bou-san the majority of my attention.

"Yes. Now, please, Takigawa-san, I have lots of work to do," I stuck my tongue out, knowing he couldn't see, yet hoping the sentiment would carry over the airwaves. Bou-san's laughter rang out from the other line. "Anyways- how's your tour so far?"

"Tiring- We're pretty far north of Tokyo now; it's chilly here even though it's not even October yet. So, Mai-chan, how have you _been_ lately?" A concerned tone captured the monk's usually playful one.

"Well. I slept well last night. Yesterday was stressful- so many people coming and going at the office. Some kid from school wants Naru to look into yet another case, and yesterday was my first day seeing the Doc. Oh, and Bou-san~ those hand marks on my mirror cleared up after that last case. Thought I should let you know~"

"Figured that was the case, seeing as that boy's spirit had attached itself to you for a while. What a weird possession, anyways- you're doing alright? There's nothing you need, right? Because I can come ba-"

"No, no," A smile spread across my features. "You're on _tour_. It's a big deal. How long will you be gone for?" Bou-san sighed loudly, somewhat exasperated.

"A month at most. A few of the venues canceled us- that was a real blow. But our manager's already looking forward to the next tour, and he's talking about an international one at that-"

"Mai." Startled, the small cell fell from my shoulder. Naru's door was cracked slightly: my boss sneaked out to catch me doing something wrong. Typical Naru. "What do you think you're doing?" He didn't know I had a phone. Potentially, a lie could work to hide my new gadget, and that way Naru wouldn't scold me or insist I not bring it to the office. He'd believe I was simply talking to myself, wouldn't he? But, no, I'd play the honest card. Fishing the phone out from under my chair, I held it up gingerly.

"Bou-san called me." My boss raised an eyebrow at the device, and to my surprise, he marched towards my desk and took hold of it. Blushing furiously, I relinquished the phone.

"You can talk to him off the clock, Mai." With that, he walked away, pink cell phone in hand. Seething at him, I slammed the laptop shut.

* * *

Naru listened to Mai's growl soften abruptly as he locked his door behind him. The blatantly girly phone irked him, but he held it to his ear nonetheless.

"Bou-san?"

"Eh? Naru-bou. You didn't need to take this from Mai." Disapproval and hurt dripped from every word, as though Naru had forcibly ripped the girl from the monk's embrace.

"She'll get over it. Listen- I need to know anything Mai might have told you regarding her situation." Naru wouldn't waste any time on a social call- this was a business matter.

"Well- most everything I knew I told Lin. Mai hasn't really divulged anything to me. If you _give her her phone back_ I might be able to gather some information, but otherwise I'm pretty useless, since I'm on tour and all..."

"Has she said anything about 'psychic planes'?" Naru's grit his teeth at the words. If the monk knew anything, he'd have to explain more. If he didn't, Naru had just given out information he shouldn't have.

"...No. What's that about?"

"Never mind. If Mai tells you anything you think is important, tell Lin. I'm trusting you on this: she won't give us clues about what's going on, which means either she knows very little or is trying to go about this on her own. Either scenario is not favorable if we want to solve this quickly."

"Got it. Now, can you put Mai-chan back on the line?"

"After her shift." Naru ended the call and pocketed the phone. The teenager opened his laptop and looked at two different sets of notes. One of which was for a case he was soon to start: Yamada Ayumu's request. Apparently, the apartment his family was moving into had a history of rather nasty events. The building itself, actually, had seen eleven murders since it had been built, along with several violent assaults, and even a rape case. While these crimes had been committed by humans, and those involved had been prosecuted by the law, every criminal had amnesia of the event. In fact, people who knew the accused were often shocked, as the criminals were normal, kind-hearted people. Yamada-san's family's new apartment, a second floor, three-bedroom home, seemed perfect when they had first seen it. On the first day they started moving furniture in, they found a neighbor's cat strangled in a closet. The second day, they found three dogs, throats slit, in the same closet.

It was interesting. Though it seemed a particularly dangerous case, Naru had faith in Matsuzaki-san's ward-making ability, and those would suffice to protect the team. Putting Yamada-san's case from his mind, Naru looked over to the other notes: those of a more pressing mystery.

Mai's case.

An hour or so passed as he contemplated his notes and no one had tried barging into his office to demand their phone back or force tea on him, which was a little disconcerting. Naru crept back towards his door and inspected the lounge. At her desk, his assistant lay slouched forward in slumber. It had been a long time since he'd seen her sleep on the job, and Naru wasn't about to wake her; shutting himself back in his office, he smirked. All was well.

* * *

It's been a while again~ It's currently raining and storming and making a big fuss in authorland, and thief went five or six days without being home, so suffice it to say I was unable to write D: Thus, we have a short chapter. Seeing as the one before this was my longest ever, I don't feel _as_ bad about it. I'll update soon. I will.

Review, s'il vous plaît. Find my flaws~ (Wants to improve as writer)

x. thief


	13. Battle Scars

As a certain young boss returned to SPR's lounge for the third time to check on a sleeping assistant-investigator, he noticed it. At first he dismissed it as a piece of rubbish, perhaps unknowingly thrown into the fake plant's pot instead of the trash. Curious, he grabbed the paper and tried his best to flatten it while sneezing from the slight dust that jostling the plant produced.

Naru stared perplexedly at the note, trying to decipher the childish scrawls. It was no good: the characters were smudged. He had enough trouble with Kanji when the characters were clean-cut. He'd have to have Lin translate the paper for him.

But where had the note come from? Had someone stopped by the office while no one was available? Not possible, Naru reasoned with himself, the doors would be locked. Though the young man had personally watched the myriad of guests the office encountered over the past few days- high school students, therapists, etc, and not one of them stole away to this particular corner. It was a region of the office that typically wasn't paid much attention, seeing as it was nothing more than a corner with a plastic plant. In fact, the fake leaves were often covered with dust. The only person in Naru's recent memory who'd bothered exploring this corner of the office was a little girl.

Takata Hitomi... the terrified little girl. Naru remembered the way she wandered listlessly around the lounge as her father described their situation. Yes- she had been in this corner.

"Lin." Naru strode into the other office without knocking, and held the crinkled slip of paper out to the taller man. Lin looked at it with interest. The writing was certainly different- obviously a child's, but there was a certain disturbed quality in the way the characters seemed to jut off the paper, instead of flowing together to create harmony and sense.

"Where is this from?" Lin read and re-read the message.

"In the plant. Can you translate that for me?"

**tokyo**

**find him he left find**

** there a psychic's  
**

**is no revenge like**

**find him in  
**

**my brother doesn't know  
**

"... And what is this supposed to mean..." Lin questioned. SPR's intellectual duo considered the note. 'My brother'? If it _was_ Hitomi-chan who left the note, she couldn't possibly be referring to a brother of her own: she didn't have one. Unless she was possessed at the time. Suddenly, it became clear to the young investigator.

"It appears we have a message from Hayashi Masaki. Most likely, he left this for us during his possession of Takata Hitomi. His spirit's been cleansed, so I doubt this is of any importance. Regardless, find a place for it, Lin." Naru finished the sentence with a sneeze, earning him a concerned look. "Dust. Just throw the note in Takata-san's case folder."

Said assistant gave one more thoughtful look at the note, then found the manila folder for its corresponding case and dropped it in. Evidence would do no good now, that ship had sailed. Naru spoke quickly about dismissing someone who could 'sleep on her own time', leaving Lin to his thoughts.

Ghosts made possessed people do all sorts of things; writing a simple note was not in the least bit extraordinary. Only... why had the note been hidden? Unless Masaki wanted someone to find it after his spirit had departed? Lin shook his head, rarely do ghosts do any sort of planning. The state of the note itself -the scrawled handwriting, the incomplete phrasing- served as a reminder that Masaki had been a spirit desperate for help. Taniyama-san had helped the child move on, but he really just wanted them to help his brother?

Lin scoffed and followed his ward. Like there was anything SPR could do for a dead boy's missing brother. Really.

* * *

The sun had long since began to set as Naru and Lin-san were about to step out of the office. It had been a couple hours, I guess, so Naru finally decided to rouse me from my slumber. Instead of reprimanding me for sleeping on the job as he was once wont to do, my boss simply told me to go home. Truthfully, that nap had refreshed me more than my last night of real sleep. Brewing one last cup of tea for the road, I gathered my bag, frantically noting the absence of my new cell phone. Naru still had it?

"Naru," The dark youth I called out to dawdled next to the office's token fake plant. It was beyond strange how much attention he was giving to that useless piece of office flair. "You still have my phone. I kind of need that." Immediately, he shot beams of annoyance towards me. My boss was _far above_ theft and other such petty crimes, though, and returned the phone before I had to resort to whining. After a completely unexpected lecture on 'keeping phones off at work', I was free to go.

A few beams of waning gold crept through my neighborhood as I trudged towards the apartment building. It'd be dark soon, and it was already too cold for October. Surprisingly, I wasn't chilled from the breeze, though my nose certainly felt the cold and began a steady, anything-but-ladylike drip. One of the blocks between the train station and home passed, and I decided I could use a bit more of a walk than just the necessary trek home. After all, I had just slept at work. If I didn't make an attempt to exhaust myself, there was a very likely chance I wouldn't sleep that night. Four blocks from my apartment, my favorite park awaited me. Maybe 'park' was an overstatement: it wasn't a children's park to play in, and it had a rather pathetic walking path. Truly, it was more of an oasis: a small slice of nature in the midst of apartment complexes and shops. Just a grassy hill, a few deciduous trees, one tiny pond, and a handful of benches. I took my usual route through the place, making a wide circle around the pond, drinking in the serenity around me. Thankfully, there weren't any teenage couples coupling that night: it always made me feel weird, being a young, single lady in a place local lovers frequently walk, picnic, etc. at. It had always been a popular spot on Valentine's Day and White Day, two holidays I never took much interest in, no matter how I would like to.

"Maybe one day I'll bring someone here, too..." I shook my head at the thought, smirking at myself in the process. Really, Taniyama. With all your troubles, _now_ you choose to think about that one? And out loud at that! Not happening. I made a mental note to pick up a whimsical oven mitt for use at SPR, and once my mind was on work again I considered the facts. With a new case to tackle, a pile of material I needed to work on for school, therapy sessions with a doctor I couldn't divulge too much information to, and days of sleep to make up, I could only wonder how I was going to accomplish it all. I always had before, though- I'd always found a way to finish everything I needed to, without anyone's help... At least until recently. Maybe working for SPR had been taking more out of me than I'd suspected... Maybe stress really was the cause of my problems.

I couldn't think negatively about my job, though... It never worked out right when I tried: I'd get all cranky at a case (or -most commonly- Naru), and rant about it to Keiko or Michiru, only to find that my train of thought gets derailed, leading me to memories of good times with all my friends from work. Lin-san, Naru, Bou-san, Ayako, John, Yasuhara-kun, and Masako. It's a hard thing to stay mad at any of them. In fact, I thought of them still as I sniffled my way home.

My legs still ached uncomfortably as I settled into my sofa's too-inviting cushions, complete with a cup of jasmine tea. It wasn't often that my legs experienced any sort of walking-induced pain, yet the walk had taken more time than I'd expected, and left me significantly more exhausted than I could have foreseen. Not only did my legs and feet hurt, but my back, arms and neck ached as well. Most unusual... Until I put those aches and pains under the same light as my runny nose. Any way I looked at it, these were the prerequisites to a bad cold. Shit. No wonder I'd fallen asleep at work.

After satisfying my tiny appetite with an equally meager dinner, I fished two pills out of the kitchen cabinet and downed them with a final swig of tea. Hoping for the best, I retired for the night, thankful that I had the insight to buy nighttime cold medicine during my last sinus infection. Immediately, I was out like a light.

* * *

**"How do you take revenge on the dead?"**

"I don't know... Why are you asking me? I'm asleep... This is a dream. Naru? Where's Naru? I want to talk to him." Even as I spoke into the dark around me, I knew he wouldn't show up. Nothing could help me more than to wake from this. Trying desperately to shake myself awake, I noticed a complete inability to move. A weight on my chest sank onto me, squeezing air from my lungs: the heavy irritation of _its _question, the one I hadn't answered sufficiently.

**"Because you should know. Because you'll need to know."** Paralyzed, wrapped in darkness, and confused. Most people enjoy the twilight between waking and dreaming- it contains their most life-like dreams- but for a medium, these can be terrifying times. Especially when you fall from an actual, normal dream into a half-sleep state embroiled in conversation with _something_. A male voice spoke to me, yet an unfamiliar one, completely lacking in emotion. Cold and unnerving, the kind of voice that would make me shudder even if I was awake, standing in the light of day.

"Who are you?"

**"I don't suppose you'd remember me. After all, you only met me once, and even then, no one took any notice. I need you to do something for me-"**

No... No. "I can't do anything for you. You're dead." Leave me alone... please, leave me alone.

A vicious sneeze threw me back into the waking world. Never in my life had I been more happily ill.

* * *

The school day dragged on slowly. I knew that if I'd been a smart girl, I wouldn't have dared come while sick. However, since I've never been a terribly bright girl, I came to school anyways, in hopes of becoming the sort of person that knows not to attend school while she's sick.

Part of me had hoped to get a chance to speak with Yamada-san about his case, yet he failed to show up. I should have worried since he'd only recently become our new client and all, but I had a nagging feeling that he was the one who passed on this cold, so I didn't care a bit about him. My voice seemed to be getting worse by the hour, and for that he'd have to suffer. During each class period, I neglected to think about the ...dream... from the night before. After all, the only thing I was able to do was count down the hours until I could go to work and tell someone about it. It was not something I could handle on my own. Instinctively, I feared whatever contacted me during that dream. It left a mental scar; a desperate urge to solve the insomnia, the red necklace mystery, dream Naru's disappearance, _everything_, gripped me.

The only problem was: who to tell? I resisted the urge to escape school and call Bou-san to describe every detail. Really, I didn't want to have to bother him while he's busy touring. Maybe Masako or the shrink would have something insightful to say? Or Lin-san. Most likely I'd just talk to Lin-san first, seeing as he was the first to notice the strange entries in my dream log. Maybe he'd found something in there that would help explain this? As long as I didn't mention my dream guide, I'd be safe. The thought comforted me, and I charged out of school like a little kid, eager to finally open up to SPR.

While boarding my usual Shibuya-bound train, I turned on my cell phone, expecting a few missed calls from the monk. I wasn't expecting a text from Ayako, and not just because of my assumption that older people can't text message. Yet there it was, in all its glory:

"No work today. Naru is sick."

An interesting dilemma to be sure. No way was I going to skip out on seeing a helpless Naru. Of course he'd still be at the office- unless he'd been hospitalized again, for which I'd have received 50 missed Ayako calls- he'll be working in sickness and in health. However, there was absolutely no doubt he'd be in the sourest of moods. If he dared get angry at me, I could simply scold him for getting me sick as well. It would create a nice opportunity to see if guilt trips actually affect Naru like they do average boys his age.

Making a quick decision to brave my boss's fury, I stopped at the convenience store down the block from SPR. Maybe if I showed up with cold medicine he'd be kinder. If not, I still had an important conversation to have with Lin-san.

SPR's entrance was unlocked, so I let myself in as usual and dropped my school bag in the lounge. A cough sounding from Naru's office confirmed my suspicion that he'd been working while sick. Anxiety twisted inside me as I put the kettle on, as usual, and made oolong tea. Stepping back into the lounge moments later with my cup, an eerie silence stole over the entire office.

There was no one typing. No one rustling around in Lin-san's office. Shrugging it off, I convinced myself he was out for a late lunch or something. With most of my courage set in place, I readied the tea tray with a cup and some cold meds for Naru, setting my cup on it as well for moral support. As if tea can protect people from their sick, possibly raging bosses. Not bothering to knock, I walked right in on the sneezy young man, startling him as he sat hunched over a book.

"Mai? I thought Matsuzaki-san contacted you." For someone that was sick, Naru lost none of his grace. His voice, though strained, stayed much the same as it was when he was healthy, and the glare he shot me was only briefly interrupted by the cough aimed skilfully into his elbow. Naru could even make being sick seem classy; it was irritating.

"Oh, she did, all right," My hoarse voice immediately gave away my condition as I dropped the tray on his desk. I tore open the package of medicine and brusquely picked up my cup of tea, downing two pills with one mouthful. "I just came to thank you for the illness. Take two of these every four to six hours. Where is Lin-san?"

"Lin isn't coming in today." Naru, perplexed, looked at me in a sort of awe before picking up the tossed-aside medicine and taking his share. Cringing, other options ran through my mind: I could just call Bou-san. Even if he's touring, he'd want to know. Or Masako- if she's not filming or something... Ayako? She wouldn't be much help... Neither would John, though he'd be a comfort. I could have Yasuhara-san research... No. And certainly not Nar-

"Lounge." Naru stood, tea tray in hand, and walked to his open doorway.

"What?" My boss continued to look at me expectantly.

"The lounge. It's where SPR usually deals with people who have something important to talk about."

* * *

**I AM SO SORRY.** Thief update:

[NaNo: my first attempt- failed.] [Hair has grown five inches and changed color twice since I've typed for you. That's how long it's been. Ouch.] [Home= icicle.] [Blame the friend who handed me a Vampire Knight volume at school before I graduated... I confess myself an addict. I feel like I've betrayed GH, haha.]

I'm a little rusty; once I get back in the swing of REGULAR UPDATES I'll most likely come back and edit previous chapters. After such a long absence, I won't even pester for the usual reviewing. Just enjoy :D ! Oh, and who knows what kind of cold medicine Mai just fed herself and Naru?


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